Chuck vs The Apocalypse
by Mh60r
Summary: Extremely non-canon and AU: What if Fulcrum was more diabolical and less inept in its purpose? What if they unleashed a biological plague on the world in their quest for power? Strong language, violence and later sexual situations.
1. Author's Foreword

**Author's forward**

Welcome to my latest project in the world of Chuck fan fiction. I know what you're thinking: "A 1000 word Author's Foreword? Yikes!" I realize that a foreword, much less one this long is unusual for a Fan Fiction story, but in the case of this story I felt it was necessary for several reasons, including some warnings about the story and the background for its genesis.

As with my other stories, this one deviates significantly from Chuck cannon. While I was (and still am) a big fan of the show in general, I prefer to not have my writing bound too tightly by the world created by Josh Schwarz, Chris Fadek and the other writers. Sometimes this finds expression in making slight adjustments to canon to fix what I see as mistakes or areas that were just "glanced" over by the series writers and other times it finds expression in major revisions to canon to overcome some of the frustrations I had with the over-the-top angst that the writers seemed to like to put our favorite couple through. Or the completely unrealistic way certain characters, particularly the military ones, especially John Casey, are portrayed. I know, I know. I want realism for a series about a completely outlandish concept such as a computer being downloaded into a loveable nerd's head? What can I say, when it comes to the portrayal of the military, I have a rather pathological issue with how Hollywood and a lot of popular authors generally portray them. All too often they are portrayed as inept at best or borderline psychotic or evil. I guess my anger at this goes back to the last fifteen years I've spent a civilian employee supporting the men and women of the United States military. Then there is this story.

 _Chuck vs The Apocalypse_ has its genesis in my love of not only Chuck, but also post-apocalyptic fiction, particularly the zombie apocalypse subgenre and Stephen King's _The Stand_. Throw in a couple of rabid plot bunnies (none of which, I will admit, are _entirely_ original), sprinkle in some science, a healthy dose of heterosexual male fantasy, and stir – and this story is the result. I pretty much start messing with cannon right out of the gate in one way or another. I'm well aware that the changes I've made to cannon may at best annoy and at worse upset some people, and for that I apologize. However, this is a story that has been percolating in my mind for a number of months (even as I was writing my other stories, _Chuck vs Semper Fi_ and _There Is Such a Thing as Second Chances_ ) and one that I felt I just had to write. So I just ask that after reading the Prologue, if you are really turned off by the story, stop reading. Nothing is worse for an author than to be continually bombarded with negative feedback, especially when the only purpose for this feedback is to excoriate the author for daring to change canon.

Originally I had intended to write the entire massive, novel-length story in its entirety before I published it. However, I since decided that as my work on _There Are Such Things As Second Chances_ has slowed down, both to circumstances in life beyond my control and circumstances within my control (namely writers block, laziness, etc) that I wanted to provide those of you who follow my work with some new material to hold you over while waiting for my inconsistent (time-wise) updates to _Second Chances_. As of the publishing of this Foreword, I have several chapters of written, which I will publish one at a time.

A word about the story pace – this is my longest story by far, and as a result, there is a lot of "build-up", particularly in the Prologue and Part I, before we get to the full-on adventure/action starting in Part II. This isn't to say there isn't some of this in the Prologue or Part I, just that it is minimal and mainly serves to set up the larger story. As for the romance component of the story, most of the early "action" is pretty mild and bland in the Prologue and Part I. Things will pick up in Part II a little bit, but the full blast romance will not be until Part III. So I apologize in advance if the story doesn't move fast enough for you; but the specific details of the plot required me to approach it this way.

Like my other stories, this one will not shy away from bad language and violence. In fact, this story will probably be more graphic in that respect. There will also be, later on in the story, much more blatant sexual situations that in my previous stories. There will be some character deaths, some major, some minor. I also use, especially in the beginning, a lot of medical terminology. Some of this is pretty self-explanatory, some not. Where I feel necessary, I will insert footnotes to explain the terms.

One final warning – as with all my stories, some of my personal social and political views do make an appearance at various points in the story; for this I apologize in advance if they offend anyone. As much as I try as writer to remove my views and bias, I'm not always successful. And the nature of this particular story has made that even more difficult, as the premise is one that presents ample opportunity for those views and bias to appear. So I'm more than prepared to receive hate mail for that; just be advised that while I'm more than willing to take heat for including those items in my story, you will not convince me to change my views or opinions, so please don't try. And as always, any objections you voice should at least be well-reasoned; screeching flames and diatribes and name-calling will be deleted mercilessly.


	2. Prologue

_**Author's** **Note:** There are two terms from epidemiology used in this chapter that you may not be familiar yet. So I've included a definition for them from Wikipedia in this note:_

 _\- R nought is the basic reproduction number of an infection. It can be thought of as the number of cases one case generates on average over the course of its infectious period, in an otherwise uninfected population. Infections with a R0 less than 1 will die out in the long run. Infections with a R0 greater than 1 will be able to spread in a population. Historically, Measles has had the largest R0 value, being equal to 18. By comparison, Smallpox has an R0 value of 7 and Ebola a R0 value of 2.5._

 _\- Case fatality rate is the proportions of deaths within a designated population of "cases" (people with a medical condition), over the course of the disease._

 **Prologue**

 **Hotel Room of Carina Miller**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **October 15, 2007**

 **1830 hours**

Charles Irving Bartowski, Chuck to his friends and families, and the Intersect to the United States Government, gulped at the sight before him. After he and his team, along with DEA Agent Carina Miller, had recovered the diamond from Peyman Alahi and had been debriefed by General Diane Beckman and Director Langston Graham, he had gone back up to the Nerd Herd desk to finish out his shift. He had been there about an hour when Big Mike had informed him that they had received an on-site tech support request, and that he had been specifically requested. Chuck had immediately left and headed for the address. He thought nothing of it; after all, he usually was the one dispatched on these on-site calls anyway.

Had his mind not still been reeling from the revelation of his handler, Sarah Walker's past relationship with his ex-best friend, CIA agent, and the reason he now had the Intersect in his head, Bryce Larkin, he would have noticed that the address for the tech support call was very familiar. In fact, he had already been there once before this week. When he arrived at the address, a downtown boutique hotel not dissimilar to Maison 23, where Sarah was staying, he took the elevator to the fifth floor and approached the room number on the order sheet. Again, had he been paying attention, he would have realized he had in fact been to this very same room earlier in the week.

It was the sight that greeted him when the door opened that now had him in a further stupor. Standing in the candle lit room, wearing a very sexy red negligee that left very little to the imagination, was Carina Miller.

"Uh…Carina…what's going on?" he asked, finally finding his voice. Smirking at him, Carina walked over to him and took his hands.

"Well, Chuck, seeing as we've finished our mission, and I'm leaving in the morning, I thought I'd give it one more shot to see if I could entice you to stay the night with me." Carina said. "C'mon Chuck. I've seen how you look at me. I know you find me attractive."

"God, Carina, I'd have to be dead not to find someone like you attractive." Chuck said, nervously. "But I can't – Sarah –"

"You're seriously going to turn down this for Sarah? Has she given you any indication that she feels the same way?" Carina asked, incredulously.

"No…No." Chuck said. "At least not anything for sure. But there've been hints-"

"Oh, please Chuck. It's nothing more than her keeping up appearances for the cover. That's just Good Handler 101. You have to keep the Asset guessing." Carina replied.

"I..I don't care, Carina." Chuck said, sighing. "You have to understand, Carina, my life was in a really bad place for the last few years. As sad as it is, my cover relationship with Sarah is the best thing that's happened to me. And I think I'm in love with her. Doesn't matter that she doesn't feel the same way. Until this is over, and she's out of my life, I can't betray her like that."

"But Chuck, if you just give me the chance, I can give you what Sarah can't. I know I come across as a party-girl, and truth is, I am to an extent. But lately, I've been getting tired of being that girl. And then I met you." Carina said. "I know you want a normal relationship with Sarah, but the reality is it will never happen; even if she felt the same, with the life agents lead, it can never be what you want. The same goes for me. But I think I'd like to try and give you as close to normal as I can."

"Carina, I'm flattered. Really. And believe me, if I hadn't already met Sarah, I could easily see myself falling for you. You're a lot like Sarah; you hide behind this persona you've built up for your job, but even I can see it's just that. I'm also well aware that having a relationship with an agent is anything but normal. Truth is, despite how much I say I want normal, that's not really true. It hasn't been since I met Sarah, if I'm totally honest with myself. Because Sarah, and you, are anything but normal. She's better than normal, and I have the feeling you would be too, just maybe in a different way. But I can't. Not now. Sorry." Chuck said and then turned to leave.

After the door closed, Carina blew out a breath and smiled a self-satisfied. Everything had gone exactly as she had it would. She had been right in her assessment of Chuck, and the situation with Sarah. A moment later, she heard the sound of her other visitor, the one that had been in the bathroom, eavesdropping on the encounter.

"I told you I knew what I was talking about." Carina said smugly.

 **Biological Research Lab**

 **Fulcrum Base**

 **Kaana Island**

 **Sumatra, Indonesia**

 **October 25, 2007**

 **2100 Hours**

"What's the latest status of the trials?" the Fulcrum Director, Ted Roark, asked. His face was on the large plasma screen on the wall, talking to the head of research at the lab via secure teleconference.

"We're making good progress." Dr. Jill Roberts said. "The latest strain exhibits all the symptoms and effects we want. But the incubation period isn't where we need it yet."

"How much longer?"

"I think we'll have it nailed down in a few weeks." Jill said. "A word of warning, sir, based on all the data and studies we've done, this is going to have an R nought value of 9, and a case fatality rate of 50 percent, so it's going to do a LOT of damage, never mind the secondary issues it's going to cause."

"Understood, Dr. Roberts. Unfortunately, it's necessary; the only way we can ensure our victory. We have to bring everyone to their knees." Ted replied. "And the counter-measure?"

"Already in the works; we won't be able to move forward much further until we nail down the final strain. Once we do that? Maybe another 2-3 months." Jill answered.

"Work as fast as you can. We want to move on our plan as soon as possible. And we can't do that while our own people and allies are vulnerable."

"And the delivery method?" Jill asked. Ted smiled.

"You let me worry about that, Dr. Roberts." A moment later the screen went blank.

 **Office of Ted Roark**

 **Roark Towers**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **October 25, 2007**

 **2105 hours**

Ted Roark turned from the computer screen where he had been teleconferencing with his lead medical researcher, Jill Roberts, and smiled. After twenty years of building Fulcrum, planning, and false-starts, his dream was only months from coming to fruition.

Pressing the intercom button on his desk, he spoke to his secretary.

"Send Mr. Colt in please." A moment later the door to his office opened and a tall, well-built black man walked in.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Roark?" he asked in deep, gravelly voice.

"Yes Mr. Colt." Ted said, motioning for him to sit down. "Our time of triumph is almost upon us. Dr. Roberts informs me the virus and its countermeasure will be ready in 3-4 months."

"That's excellent, sir." Mr. Colt replied.

"I want you to start drawing up an extraction plan for the good doctor and her staff once she's notified us that her research is complete. Make sure you include stripping the lab of anything useful." Ted said. "While you're at it, I want you to review our evacuation plans for the rest of our personnel and associates as well. I want to make sure there is nothing we missed; make sure every contingency is accounted for. Then double-check the security in place at each of the evacuation facilities. We can't afford any mistakes; the whole plan hinges on our ability to keep Fulcrum operating as a coherent and well-funded and well-supplied force while everyone else around us is falling to pieces."

"You got it boss." Mr. Colt said. "Should I start finalizing plans for the delivery of the virus as well?"

"Yes. I assume you've identified candidates that are expendable?" Ted asked. At Mr. Colt's nod, he grinned. "Good. I want to add one more name to the list. He's going to be a little different though. Unlike the rest of our volunteers, he's going to have no idea he's spreading it. But it will be poetic justice to make him one of the carriers."

 **Sarah Walker's Hotel Room**

 **Maison 23**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2007**

 **2200 hours**

Sarah Walker looked down at her phone as it rang, reading the caller ID.

"Bryce." She sighed, reading the name on the screen. Several days ago the team had discovered Bryce Larkin, her former partner and lover – and the reason she was now in Los Angeles protecting Chuck – alive, much to everyone's surprise. This of course had led to problems with her relationship vis-à-vis Chuck; for the last month she had been slowly changing the nature of their relationship from strictly handler/asset to something more akin to friends and had been working on trying to improve Chuck's confidence and his self-image. And she had been succeeding. She had even managed to get Casey to lay off of Chuck somewhat and to begrudgingly admit that Chuck had potential, that he just needed some training. And Carina had been back to Burbank twice since the Peyman Alahi mission, and had added her help to Sarah's project.

But Bryce showing back up alive combined with both Chuck's and her past history with him, had strained that relationship and the progress she had been making with Chuck. It didn't help at all that Bryce had acted like his cocky usual self, putting Chuck down, albeit subtly, during the past week. And of course he both threw his past relationship with Sarah in Chuck's face, and spent time trying to convince Sarah to rekindle that relationship, something Sarah was not interested in doing. Lastly, he had blatantly tried to tempt Sarah to leave her current assignment and work with him again.

"What do you want, Bryce?" she said, answering the phone.

"You're not going to leave with me, are you?" Bryce asked.

"No, Bryce, I'm not." Sarah replied. "First of all, I can't just turn my back on my current assignment; it doesn't matter if Graham is willing to let me go, I can't do it. I've never abandoned an assignment in my career and I'm not about to start now. Second of all, things can't go back to the way they were between us, Bryce, I'm sorry. Too much time has passed, and frankly, I'm not sure I can trust you to have my back anymore."

"C'mon Sarah. I told you already I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you what was happening before I stole the Intersect. It was too dangerous." Bryce said. "And you're too good an agent to be wasting away here in Los Angeles on baby-sitting duty." Now Sarah was getting angry.

"Dammit Bryce, I said NO." Sarah said, stressing the word. "The fact of the matter is the Intersect is here, and it and Chuck need to be protected by the best. That's me. And Casey."

"You're making a mistake." Bryce said. "Last chance. Once I hang up this phone I'm gone for a while."

"Goodbye, Bryce." Sarah said, hanging up the phone.

 **Playa Del Rey Beach**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2007**

 **2300 Hours**

Chuck sat in the sand, brooding slightly. Ever since the discovery that Bryce was alive, and the events that followed the last week, he had been fighting a feeling of dread. Despite the fact that the last month had been good for him, both from a personal standpoint with his friendship with Sarah and oddly enough, Carina, and with his work with the Intersect, he couldn't help but feel like it was all going to come crashing down now. After all, part of the credit for his success as the Intersect lay with Sarah, and to a lesser extent Casey. Where they had initially treated him only as an asset to be handled, they both had helped him adjust to his new reality over the last several weeks. Sarah had even gone so far as to give him some training, albeit on the sly, since she was sure Beckman and Graham would not approve. But now that Bryce was back, he was sure Sarah would be leaving. Hell, Bryce had said as much, offering her the chance to resume their partnership and relationship. And when she did, his world was going to collapse.

As Chuck sat in the sand distracted by his thoughts, a black Porsche pulled into the parking lot behind him. A moment later Sarah got out and started walking towards the spot where he was sitting. After hanging up on Bryce, she knew she had to go find Chuck and talk to him. She was sure he was thinking the worst. And she had to let him know that the worst was not happening. As she approached him, she heard him let out a pitiful sigh, and her heart almost broke.

"Chuck?" she called out, just loud enough for him to hear. He turned around and looked at her and a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes appeared on his face.

"Sarah. What are you doing here?" Chuck asked. "I thought Casey had surveillance tonight?"

"I swapped shifts with him." Sarah said, coming up to him and sitting down. "I wanted to talk to you."

"You're leaving with Bryce, aren't you?" Chuck said sadly.

"No, Chuck, I'm not." Sarah said firmly.

"Why?"

"Because my job is here. Protecting you." Sarah said.

 _Of course. Sarah Walker is nothing if not dedicated to her job_ , Chuck thought.

As if reading his thoughts, Sarah spoke again. "And not just because of my job, Chuck," Sarah said. "Granted, that's a big part of it. But this assignment has given me other benefits, benefits that I never thought I'd have or ever want. You, Casey, and I are a great team. I trust the two of you more than I've ever trusted another partner, except maybe Carina."

"What about Bryce?" Chuck interrupted.

"Not even Bryce, Chuck." Sarah said. At Chuck's disbelieving look, she continued. "Yes, I trusted him to an extent as a partner, but Bryce has always cared too much about being some bad James Bond hero knockoff. Even when he and I were involved, I always knew deep down it was just physical; he didn't really care for me, except what I could give him, and how I could help his career. Truth is, I probably used him too. No, I trust you more than I trust Bryce. And not just with the job. I trust you to be genuinely concerned about me and to care about what happens. That's something Bryce never gave me."

"Careful Walker… your lady-feelings are showing," Chuck grunted, in a passable imitation of Casey. He grinned, and Sarah laughed.

"I'm just glad to know I can still have them." Sarah said. "I've been doing this job so long I almost forgot what it was like to be a somewhat normal person. That's the other thing you've given me. You and your family and friends did that. Even though I can never be completely off the clock or normal, you've given me the chance to at least feel a little part of that. And you've become more than an asset to me, Chuck. You've become a friend. And I have very few of those in this world."

 **Crazy Horse Tavern**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **September 19, 2300 hours**

Major John Casey sat alone at a small table in back of the tavern, sipping on a glass of his favorite thinking whiskey, Johnny Walker Red Label. He had been here for several hours, and yet was still nursing the same glass. The reason for this was that his mind was preoccupied trying to make a decision. Perhaps the most important decision of his life, even more important than his decision to become part of the NSA.

The impetus for these thoughts was the recent order he had been given by both General Beckman and Director Graham. With the new Beta Intersect coming online, it was almost time to resolve the current situation with Bartowski. And therein was the problem. They had ordered his termination.

Casey took another sip of his drink. It wasn't the first time he had been given the order to terminate an asset. And it had never bothered him before. Of course, in those past cases, he was dealing with scum bags who had been flipped or forced into working for the US government. They usually had committed numerous crimes or had helped the enemy in some way. But Chuck Bartowski was different.

For starters, Chuck had not done anything that would normally have brought him into this world. Instead, he was forced into it by that prick, Bryce Larkin. He was an innocent. That alone was enough to make him extremely uncomfortable about what he had been ordered to do. After all, before being an NSA agent, he had been a Marine. And while he had long since compromised some of what he had be taught at the Academy and in the rest of his Marine training, he still clung to the core values the Corps had taught him. It was those values that had caused him to slowly become disillusioned over the last several years with the orders he had been receiving from his superiors, and ultimately led him to this point.

Additionally, as much as he would deny it to Walker or Bartowski, his reluctance about the Termination order also had a personal element to it. For over the last two years he had slowly come to respect and even admire Charles Bartowski. True, Bartowski was undisciplined, untrained, and often infuriating naïve, but despite these traits he had handled his situation reasonably well. More than well, actually. There had been numerous examples over the last two years of courage and ingenuity, something that just by looking at Bartowski someone wouldn't have seen or believed. Even Bartowski himself seemed to not see it. But Casey had. The truth was that Charles Bartowski, while not a typical trained spy, was becoming one of the best agents/partners he'd ever seen. Despite being dragged into this world through no fault of his own, he had served with honor. To Casey, that deserved a better reward than a bullet to the brain.

Finally, there was Walker. He had always been somewhat dismissive of female agents, especially CIA and DEA ones. Part of that was the residual chauvinism found in many men, part of it was his distaste for the methods used by many female agents to accomplish their missions, even when other methods were available, and the eagerness with which many used those methods. At first he had viewed Walker as no different. He had heard all the stories about Graham's Ice Princess Wild Card Enforcer; about how she could take any man and turn them into putty. The fact that she had been partners, and according to the rumors, lovers with Bryce Larkin, a man that Casey detested, hadn't helped his view of her at first either. But slowly, just as Chuck's actions had changed his opinion of him, Walker had demonstrated over the last two years that she was much more than the stories. And that those stories were not entirely true. Granted, she could take a mark and turn him into putty, but it started becoming clear to Casey pretty early on that despite the fact she was good at it, she didn't take nearly the same amount of pleasure in that line of work as other female agents he had worked with. A perfect example of that was her resistance to the suggestions of their superiors that she should use Bartowski's attraction to her to control him. And contrary to her go-it-alone wild card reputation, she was actually a team player and a good partner. He had come to respect her immensely, and care for her as a colleague and friend.

He was also not blind to the fact that despite what Walker maintained, it was clear that she had fallen for Chuck, just as it was blindingly obvious that Chuck was in love with her. He respected her even more since despite this fact, she had managed to remain professional. He also was not blind to the fact that something was changing between his partners. The last year he had noticed a subtle but distinctive shift from the handler/asset relationship to something more akin to friendship, maybe something even more. And that was the final reason for his uneasiness with the order. It would be a betrayal of their partnership, first and foremost, something that his sense of honor railed against. And if he was honest, fear of her reaction if he carried out the order and she ever found out it was him was also playing its part. He was under no illusions; Sarah Walker was perhaps the most deadly agent he had ever worked with. He didn't like to consider his chances if she was pissed off. Or worse.

Talking one final sip out of the glass in his hand, he set it down and came to his decision.

 **Park and Ride**

 **Off of Interstate-5**

 **September 20, 2008**

 **1900 hours**

"Ok Casey, what's going on?" Sarah demanded as she exited her Porsche. She had found a note in her purse an hour earlier from him telling her to come here, and to come alone. She was not happy at having her plans for the evening disrupted.

Major John Casey, NSA, took a breath. He was not looking forward to this conversation. But he owed it to her. And Chuck.

"Walker. We have a problem." He began, praying to every incarnation of God he had heard about that he wasn't making the biggest mistake of his career and possibly his life.


	3. Part 1 Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**_ _This chapter makes reference to three diseases that are (or were) real and very dangerous. I have included a brief description of each in this Author's Note. For further information, Wikipedia or WebMD are great sources._

 _Rabies –_ _Rabies is a preventable viral disease of mammals most often transmitted through the bite of a rabid animal. The vast majority of rabies cases reported each year occur in wild animals like raccoons, skunks, bats, and foxes. The rabies virus infects the central nervous system, ultimately causing disease in the brain and death. The early symptoms of rabies in people are similar to that of many other illnesses, including fever, headache, and general weakness or discomfort. As the disease progresses, more specific symptoms appear and include insomnia, anxiety, confusion, slight or partial paralysis, excitation, hallucinations, agitation, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing, and hydrophobia. Death usually occurs within days of the onset of these symptoms. The time period between contracting the disease and the onset of symptoms is usually one to three months; however this time period can vary from less than one week to more than one year._

 _Smallpox –_ _Smallpox was a serious infections disease caused by the variola virus. It was extremely contagious – meaning, it spread from one person to another. People infected with Smallpox had a fever and a distinctive, progressive skin rash. Most people with Smallpox recovered, but about 3 out of every 10 people with the disease died. Many Smallpox survivors have permanent scars over large areas of their body, especially their faces. Some were left blind. Many of the severest plagues of ancient times are believed to have been outbreaks of Smallpox, including the Antonine Plague that swept through the Roman Empire in AD 165-180, and devastated the Amerindian population in North America upon its introduction by Spanish, French, and English explorers and settlers onto the continent. Thanks to the success of vaccination, Smallpox was declared eradicated, and no cases of naturally occurring Smallpox have been reported since 1977. Smallpox research in the United States continues and focuses on the development of vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic tests to protect people against Smallpox in the event that it is used as an agent of bioterrorism. Of particular concern is the fact that a number of nations are suspected of engaging or having engaged, in activities designed to weaponized the virus. If the virus that causes Smallpox were used in a bioterrorist attack, people who come into contact with the virus would be at risk of getting sick. By 1972, the Smallpox vaccine was no longer given routinely in the United States. As a result, most people born in the United States since 1972 have not been vaccinated against the disease. Some people have been vaccinated through the military or because they were part of Smallpox response Teams that were formed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These vaccination efforts are part of the larger plan to prepare for a bioterrorist attack. However, the vaccine does not give lifelong immunity, and people who have been vaccinated against Smallpox before may still need to be revaccinated in a Smallpox emergency._

 _Spanish Influenza –_ _Spanish Influenza (or Flu) is the name given to the 1918 H1N1 influenza virus that devastated the world during and after the First World War. It infected approximately 1/3 of the world's population at the time (500 million out of 1.5 billion) and total deaths are estimated between 50 to 100 million world-wide. The disease was exceptionally severe. Unlike most strains of the Flu, the 1918 Spanish Flu was notable for the fact that it attacked otherwise healthy adults between the ages of 18-40, whereas typical strains of flu are usually only fatal in the very young, very old, or those whose immune systems have been compromised by other factors._

 **Part I:** **Chapter 1**

 **Kaana Island**

 **Sumatra, Indonesia**

 **October 20, 2008**

 **0100 hours**

Bryce Larkin lowered the night vision binoculars he was carrying, and placed them back into his tactical vest. He was dressed in black BDUs, black combat boots and his face was covered in black camouflage face paint. Strapped to his upper thigh was a tactical holster in which rested an FN Five-Seven pistol with two spare magazines. On the other thigh was strapped a combat knife. Strapped across his back attached to a three-point sling was an FN P90 assault rifle. Contained in several pouches on his vest were four spare magazines for the P90.

For the first time in months, Bryce felt excited. Ever since he had been rescued from his Fulcrum captivity (after they had revived him after his near fatal shooting at the hands of John Casey while stealing the Intersect, believing him to have uploaded it to himself) and returned to the CIA, he had been shuttled around on various assignments, playing decoy to keep Fulcrum from discovering the truth. He had initially tried to convince his superiors to let him go undercover to infiltrate Fulcrum. He had hoped that with such an assignment, he'd be able to convince his former partner and lover Sarah Walker to leave Los Angeles and come with him, re-establishing their partnership and relationship. But his superiors had refused, choosing instead to have him play decoy to keep Fulcrum from discovering the truth about the Intersect.

A look of anger crossed his face. While he understood the need to keep Fulcrum from finding out that his former college roommate and friend Chuck Bartowski now housed the Intersect, he did not like playing the role of decoy. It was a waste of his talents, he felt. Making matters worse was the fact that Sarah had made it clear, the last time he had seen her, that she had no desire to resume either their former partnership or relationship. He suspected that the reason she did so was because she had become compromised, falling for Chuck, who was her asset, a clear violation of CIA protocols. He had, of course, reported this to his superiors, but to no avail. Somehow, Sarah had managed to head off whatever investigation had been conducted, and remained in Los Angeles. To make matters worse, Director Langston Graham, his mentor, had been killed by Fulcrum three weeks ago, and along with him, the replacement Intersect computer had also been destroyed. It has also killed any chance of being reunited with Sarah.

Then, two weeks ago, he had gotten pulled out of the field and told to report to Director Kyle Marcus' office. He had replaced Graham, and did not seem as in awe of Bryce's reputation or prowess as Graham had been. Once there he learned that he was finally going to get a real assignment; one that if he completed it successfully, would allow him to get back into the game. Marcus told him that information had been uncovered that Fulcrum was operating a facility on Kaana Island in Indonesia. Details were sketchy, but the information that Fulcrum was operating a facility on foreign soil was concerning to say the least. After all, they might have been traitorous bastards, but their stated purpose had always been to take over the US government in order to make America stronger. As misguided as their methods and end goals were, they were patriots, in their own way and minds. For them to start using facilities on foreign soil was out of character.

He was ordered to proceed to Naval Submarine Base King's Bay in Georgia, where he would report aboard the USS Jimmy Carter. The hunter/killer boat would take him to a spot in the Indian Ocean. There, just off the Coast of Kaana Island, he would drive a Zodiac boat to shore, locate the facility, and gather intelligence about it.

Bryce had been searching the island for three days, having finally located the suspected facility yesterday. And he had been observing it for the last twenty-four hours. For all intents and purposes, it appeared to be abandoned. The gates were wide open, and the jungle had begun to overtake the once cleared area around it. A sinking feeling in Bryce's gut told him that he probably would not find anything of use there.

"Dammit." He muttered. So much for this mission being his ticket back into the game.

 **Abandoned Fulcrum Compound**

 **Kaana Island**

 **Sumatra, Indonesia**

 **October 20, 2008**

 **0230 hours**

Bryce Larkin cursed under his breath once again. He had been searching the compound for the last hour, and had nothing to show for it. The entire compound was empty, save for the piles of rubbish that one might expect.

 _So much for this mission being a spring-board to get back into the game,_ Bryce thought. At this rate he was going to running around playing decoy for Chuck Bartowski for the rest of his career.

Unfortunately for Bryce, he was so engrossed in his thoughts that he missed the small black device half hidden by one of the piles of rubbish, and further missed the small hissing sound it made as it discharged a brief stream of spray.

 **Office of Ted Roark**

 **Roark Towers**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **October 21, 2008**

 **0900 hours**

"Mr. Roark?" the voice of Ted's secretary called through the intercom. "I have Mr. Colt on Line Three for you." Ted picked up the phone and punched in a code, activating the scrambler feature.

"Mr. Colt." He said in greeting.

"Hi boss." Mr. Colt said. "Phase 1 is complete. We received a signal from the canister late last night. Review of the remote camera we had trained on the compound shows Agent Larkin was there at the time we received the signal."

"Excellent!" Ted said excitedly. "And the rest of our delivery packages? Are they in place?"

"Yes." Mr. Colt replied. "All of them are in place and have been ordered to begin the countdown to Phase 2. Just as you planned, once the world's attention is focused on Indonesia, they'll move."

"What about clean-up?"

"Won't be a problem, boss. Each of them think they've been given the vaccine. In reality we injected them with micro-explosives. Their coating is designed to start breaking down as soon as they're injected. Once the designated time has passed, the coating will dissolve completely and activate the explosives. All our delivery packages will be eliminated."

"Good. That will make it harder for our adversaries to figure out what happened." Ted said. "And the status of the rest of our preparations?"

"All of our operatives are in place. Once the plague starts, they'll carry out their orders." Mr. Colt replied. "All our facilities are operational and fully supplied. We've begun quietly evacuating everyone on the list. And Archangel reports that he believes he's found the location of the Ark. He's convinced he can get agents in there before the balloon goes up."

"Good." Ted replied. "That will be the last piece needed to take our rightful place as masters of the world."

 **C-130**

 **En Route to Camp Lemonnier**

 **Ambouli, Djibouti.**

 **October 21, 2008**

 **1400 hours**

Bryce struggled to get comfortable in the jump seat he was currently sitting in. He hated flying on military transport planes; they were loud and uncomfortable – not the mode of transportation appropriate for one of the CIA's best agents. The only thing that made it remotely bearable was that it was much less claustrophobic than the USS Jimmy Carter, and that the flight would be over shortly. Once the plane landed at Camp Lemonnier, the U.S. Navy's Expeditionary Base in the small African nation of Djibouti, he could hopefully get an international flight on a real airline out of Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport.

 _"I wonder if I can swing a long layover someplace civilized."_ Bryce thought. True, he was expected to report back to Langley, but in the past Graham had been lenient if Bryce had been delayed a day or two in reporting back. But Bryce was unsure about Director Marcus. _"I should be able to come up with some plausible story. After all, I'm Bryce Larkin."_

Little did he know that as the plane began to descend towards the base, that he was unwittingly carrying a stowaway inside of him, one that multiplied with every passing second and spread with every person he met and interacted with.

 **Village of Jamau**

 **Kana Island**

 **Sumatra, Indonesia**

 **October 22, 2008**

 **0230 hours**

The village of Jamau was located fifteen kilometers west of the Fulcrum compound. Relatively small by Indonesian standards, the village normally had a population of no more than four hundred people. Tonight however, that population had begun to decline dramatically.

It had all started a three weeks ago when two members of the village who had been on a hunting trip had returned to the village, telling of an abandoned compound they had come across earlier that morning. Though little was left in the compound, it was clear that it had at one point been occupied by Westerners, much to their surprise, as Westerners tended to stay near the larger population centers of Indonesia.

Then, six days ago, both men had begun to fall ill. At first, the symptoms seemed to indicate nothing more concerning than the common cold. Then their symptoms had gotten worse, and more villagers had gotten sick. The village doctor had assumed that perhaps they had been stricken by a new influenza strain, but some of the symptoms didn't make sense. The two men who had gotten sick first had since developed sores around their mouth and nose, and had become increasingly irrational and borderline violent.

He had radioed to the city of Padang to request additional medical aid, but so far none had arrived. He hoped it came soon. Currently there were nearly sixty-five villagers sick and he had a feeling more would be falling ill soon.

Shouting from inside the small medical ward that was in his clinic drew his attention. He quickly got up to see what the racket was about, only to stop short in the doorway at the sight he saw.

"Allah preserve us!"

 **October 25, 2008**

 _Sumatra, Indonesia – Officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed today that a new strain of the influenza virus has been discovered on the island of Kaana in the Indonesian province of Sumatra. Designated H3N6 or "Kaana Flu," the WHO has issued an advisory for all of Sumatra._

 _"This strain is very unusual." Dr. Ingrid Lentz, the head of the WHO team in Indonesia stated. "The severity of the symptoms found in those that are infected are closer to those of H1N1, the 1918 Spanish Flu, than any other strain in recent memory."_

 _The Indonesian government downplayed fears of the strain spreading, stating that they have isolated the affected areas and have quarantined anyone who came into contact with the infected._

 _However anonymous sources within the Indonesian government and the WHO have reported that at least two-dozen people who are known to have come in contact with those infected are missing and cannot be located. There is mounting fear that they have traveled to other parts of Indonesia or possibly internationally, thereby raising the risk of the flu spreading._

 **October 26, 2008**

 _Pandang City, Province of Sumatra, Indonesia – Sporadic rioting has broken out in the city of Pandang in the Indonesian province of Sumatra. Details are sketchy, but it's believed that the riots are a result of fear of the spread of the Kaana Flu virus, and the government's heavy-handed quarantining of the province._

 _Meanwhile, the WHO is denying reports that the virus is much more serious than first reported. Specifically, they have rebutted unconfirmed reports that the Kaana Flu is also causing symptoms reminiscent of Smallpox and Rabies in those infected._

 **That night**

 **Various locations around the globe…**

Across the globe, dozens of men and women each glanced at their phones after a beep drew their attention. Each read the secure message that came up on the screen. The message was in code, of course, despite the fact that the phones were supposed to be secure. Then, after reading the message, each began to move, preparing to execute the instructions that the message had told them it was time to implement.

Some picked up backpacks and left their homes, apartments or hotel rooms, and got into their cars or a taxi and speed off towards a pre-determined very public and crowded destination. Others picked up other cell phones and dialed others in their cells, some full members of the organization, others mere associates, and others nothing more than patsies who had no idea that what they were about to do in the coming days and weeks would precipitate.

Finally, a select few grabbed their bug-out-bags and began their journeys towards their pre-designated safe zones. Wherever and whatever those who were moving were doing, all had one thing in common. Each one of them knew that very soon, the world would never be the same again. However, many did not realize that they would not live to see the new world they were out to create; many believed they were protected from the oncoming conflagration by the vaccine they had been provided, unaware that they had been given nothing but a placebo and that they would soon be dead. Still others did not appreciate that, although they had in fact been given a vaccine, that the other dangers created by the spread of the disease and the upcoming collapse would be just as dangerous and take them out just as permanently as the disease.


	4. Part 1 Chapter 2

**Part I: Chapter 2**

 **Bartowski Residence**

 **Echo Park**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **October 27, 2008**

 **1930 hours**

Chuck walked out onto the patio of the apartment he shared with his sister, Eleanor (Ellie) Faye Bartowski and her fiancé, Devon Woodcomb, carrying two bottles of beer. He had arrived home several minutes ago to be greeted by an ecstatic Ellie and Devon congratulating him. At first he had been confused; other than the success of the latest mission he couldn't see a reason for Ellie to be acting like she was. And he knew damn well that Sarah wouldn't have told them about that. It had taken several minutes before he found out what was going on. He was shocked to say the least, but he appreciated the effort that Sarah and Casey had made to convince his sister that he was moving on with his life.

"Thanks for the fake diploma." He said, handing one of the bottles of beer over to Sarah.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked, accepting the beer.

"I get it; you had one of your CIA contacts forge a diploma from Stanford to get Ellie of my back." He replied.

Sarah shook her head sadly. Despite the work she, Carina, and Casey had put in over the last year in building up Chuck's confidence in his inherent abilities, and the limited training they had been giving him, he was still prone at times to moments of self-doubt. Reaching out, she took him by the hand, and was immediately rewarded with the smile she loved to see on his face. The one that the simplest gesture of friendship or intimacy on her part, and more recently Carina's, could bring.

"It's real Chuck." Sarah said. "Casey and I thought your exceptional field service should count for something. General Beckman agreed and got the NSA lawyers involved and convinced Stanford to clear your record."

"And by field service you mean running away from exploding video games?" Chuck said.

"Physical Education." She replied.

"Or decoding weapons satellite codes?"

"Computer Science." Sarah said grinning.

"Thank you, Sarah." Chuck said, still not quite believing how much things had changed over the last year. He had been so terrified and frustrated those first months after he had downloaded the Intersect. But after the mission where the team had worked with Carina Miller, things had begun to change. It was subtle at first; Sarah began to treat him like something more than just an asset, almost like a friend. And though she had made clear that their cover relationship as boyfriend/girlfriend was just that – a cover, he also began to get the sense that she was as unhappy with the cover as he. And not for the reasons he had initially thought – namely that she didn't want to be here. Instead, over the last year he would say that he and Sarah had become very good friends. What was more surprising was that he had also become friends with Carina.

Carina had reappeared in Los Angeles not long after that mission to visit Sarah and the three of them had hung out part of the time. What surprised Chuck the most about Carina was that while she was definitely still a flirt, she seemed to be a lot more normal than before. And that wasn't just a one-time occurrence. It seemed like she would show up every couple of months for a weekend and soon all three were hanging out for the entire visit, barring missions. And when she wasn't in Los Angeles, she and Sarah were e-mailing and talking on the phone. Hell, she even e-mailed him a number of times.

Then there was the training that Sarah had started giving him. She had argued, successfully, that given his habit of not staying in the car, combined with the uncanny ability of trouble to find him, that he should get in better shape and learn some basic spy skills. He had been nervous and unsure at first, but Sarah had been very patient.

But the biggest change was how Casey was treating him. He wasn't sure what had happened, but over the last six months Casey had treated him less like a computer and more like a person and valuable member of the team. One example that came to mind was Casey's reaction to Carina coming around when she did – he hadn't objected or even reported to visits, as far as Chuck could tell, to the CIA or General Beckman. And over the last couple of weeks, he had noticed that a subtle shift in even how General Beckman was treating him. Oh, she was still very business-like and aloof, but she seemed to be less sarcastic towards him, more willing to entertain his tangents, and even complimented him on several occasions. The one time he had asked Sarah about it she had laughed and said that they were just finally figuring out what she knew all along. That Chuck Bartowski was something special.

"I want to show you something." Sarah said, turning to look at the sky. "You see that star over there? That's the Air Force bouncing Morimoto's satellite off the atmosphere. Make a wish, you've earned it."

Chuck looked at the streak that was the satellite, tears beginning to fill his eyes. Sarah's words were very touching. But they also reminded him of another problem.

In the year since he had met Carina, especially after the she started coming around on a regular basis, he had gotten to know her better, the real her, not the wild persona she put forward to the world in her job. She was a lot like Sarah in that way; both had built this false mask to the world. And the more he had gotten to know her, he began to feel a strange pull towards her, one that it took him a while to recognize. When he did, he was forced to admit something that had been keeping him up at night - the fact that there were now not just one but two women in his life that he was friends with who he wished he could be more than friends with, Sarah and Carina. But he knew wishing for that would only lead to heartache. First, because as long as he had the Intersect in his head, he was an asset, no matter how well he was being treated. A relationship with either would never be permitted. Second, because even if he could, he wasn't sure he could choose. He knew he was in love with Sarah. But, he also knew that he had developed strong feelings for Carina as well.

Watching Chuck think, his brow furrowed, Sarah almost smiled. She had a pretty good idea what he was thinking about; Chuck wasn't very good at hiding his emotions. Luckily, the surprise of the Stanford degree was only part of what she had planned for tonight.

"Chuck? Do you want to maybe go for drive?" Sarah asked. "There's something I need to talk to you about – it's not bad, I promise – but I'd be more comfortable having the discussion somewhere else."

"Sure." Chuck said. "I'll tell Ellie we're going out to celebrate my degree."

 **Inside Sarah Walker's Porsche**

 **On Interstate 5**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **October 27, 2008**

 **1945 hours**

Sarah glanced over at Chuck from her spot on the driver's side of her Porsche. Despite her words earlier, it was clear that Chuck was worried about the talk she wanted to have with him. Reaching out and she took his hand.

"Chuck, relax. I promise, it's nothing bad. It's just something I didn't want to talk about in front of all the surveillance, okay?" she said.

"Uh. Ok. Can we talk now?" Chuck asked.

"Not yet." Sarah said. "It's also not a conversation I want to have in my car."

"Where then?" he asked.

"I thought we'd go to the beach…you know, our spot." Sarah said smiling. Her heart skipped a beat at the smile that appeared on Chuck's face.

Being from Southern California, Chuck had already had the usual affinity for the beach, but the spot Sarah was referring to was special. It was where she had found him after their first "date" after he downloaded the Intersect and she had asked him to trust her. And it was the spot where over the last year they had had several special conversations; conversations that had helped move their relationship from strictly handler/asset to friends and where she had let him in, small piece by small piece, into the life of Sarah Walker. She had no doubt that he was now thinking this was going to be another one of those conversations, which it was…just not in the way he thought.

 _"_ _Oh Chuck, you are in for the surprise of your life,"_ she thought smiling slightly. As she continued driving, her thoughts turned back to that fateful night a year ago.

 ** _Begin Flashback_**

 ** _Bathroom_**

 ** _Hotel Room of Carina Miller_**

 ** _Los Angeles, CA_**

 ** _October 15, 2007_**

 ** _1830 hours_**

 _Sarah held steadied her nerves as she heard Chuck knock on Carina's hotel room door, suddenly feeling the urge to find some way of slipping out of the room before Chuck entered. When Carina had come to her a few days ago and suggested this idea, she had at first resisted._

 _After the joke of a relationship with Bryce, she had promised herself that she would never again allow herself to fall into the trap of ever believing that she had found someone with whom she could realize her heart's secret desire. But then Bryce had gone and stolen the Intersect and sent it to Chuck Bartowski._

 _Looking at the dossier that the CIA had provided, she had been sure that it would be a simple assignment; there was no way this nerd would be able to resist the legendary Sarah Walker. That confidence had lasted right up until she had entered the Buy More, and he had helped the distraught ballerina and her father. That moment had reawaken a hope in her that she thought she had buried. And their "date" the next night did nothing to quell that hope; Chuck had been sweet, considerate, and funny. And despite his nerdy exterior, he was actually quiet cute as well._

 _Of course, the fact that he had downloaded the Intersect into his head had complicated things, along with her insecurities. She spent the early part of the assignment fighting against the feelings she was having concerning Chuck._

 _It had been Carina showing up in Los Angeles that had forced her to admit the truth. But even then, she had resisted, until Carina had confronted her about it. As usual, Carina had cut straight through Sarah's bullshit._

 _Which led to this moment; before Sarah could decide where to go with the situation with Chuck, she had to know for sure that he was the one. So she forced herself to stay in the bathroom and listen to the conversation between Chuck and Carina. She smiled slightly as she heard Chuck stutter when he first walked in and saw Carina._

 _"_ _He sounded so darn cute when he acted like that," Sarah thought to herself. She frowned a moment later as she heard Carina lay it on really thick, as per the plan. Despite the fact that it was a necessity to find out the truth, something about Carina going all-out to seduce Chuck Bartowski made her upset._

 _"_ _Get a hold of yourself, Walker." She thought to herself. "You know why Carina is doing this. And you agreed." She refocused herself and continued to listen to the conversation, her heart swelling as she heard Chuck's declaration of his feelings for her, and his not being willing to "cheat" on her, even if she had given him no indication she reciprocated his feelings. She even smiled at his declaration of how he felt about Carina to her – typical Chuck, honest to a fault, and always trying to be considerate of other people's feelings. Finally, she heard him leave the room, closing the door. After a moment, Sarah exited the bathroom and walked into the main living area of the room._

 _"_ _I told you I knew what I was talking about." Carina said, smugly as she turned to look at Sarah. Sarah grinned._

 _"_ _Ok, ok. Yes, you were right. Christ, now your head is going to be even bigger than before." Sarah said, feigning exasperation, then turned serious. "Seriously though, now that we have confirmation, this makes things simpler in some ways, but a whole lot more complicated in others." Carina nodded._

 _"_ _You aren't kidding." Carina said. "You can't tell him, at least not yet. He's not ready to hear it, despite how much he's pining. You need to build up to it; not to mention we need to take care of the other issues as well. I don't think I've met anyone who is as self-deprecating as he is. If this is going to work, his confidence is going to need to be boosted – and if there's a chance in hell of keeping Graham and Beckman from transferring you and throwing him in a bunker when they find out, we're going to need to train him a little. You need to show them he's not just an asset. And, if worse comes to worse, we need plan to develop an exit strategy."_

 _"_ _We're? We?" Sarah asked._

 _"_ _Of course, Sarah." Carina said softly, stepping towards Sarah. "I meant what I said back at the Farm." A moment later, Sarah had engulfed her in a hug._

 _"_ _So did I." Sarah said._


	5. Part 1 Chapter 3

**Part I: Chapter 3**

 **Public Parking Lot**

 **Santa Monica Beach**

 **October 27, 2008**

 **2000 hours**

After Sarah pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine, Chuck got out of the car and closed the passenger side door of Sarah's Porsche and inhaled the sea air blowing across the parking lot. The two partners/friends had spent the remaining fifteen minutes of the drive in silence, listening to the radio. As was Sarah's habit, it was tuned to one of the twenty-four hour news stations. This was a byproduct of her years as a spy, wanting to be aware of what was going on in the world at all times. The biggest stories this night were the new strain of flu that had broken out in Asia, a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, an a large protest against the World Bank that had been held in Geneva during its annual meeting. Chuck had groaned silently as he listened to the news about the new flu strain; his sister being a doctor, she was sure to insist that he get a flu shot once one was developed for it – and he hated needles. Normally he would be able to avoid it, but he was sure that Sarah and Casey would insist on it as well, in which case, he was screwed. A moment later, Sarah had exited the car and walked around to back of the car and opened the trunk. After rooting around in the trunk, she emerged a moment later with a blanket in her hands, as well as a basket. Closing the trunk, she walked over to Chuck.

"This might take a while." She said to his questioning glance. "So I brought snacks." Motioning for him to follow her, she strode onto the beach. The two of them walked in silence for a few minutes, until they came up to their special spot on the beach. Stopping, Sarah spread out the blanket on the sand and sat down. Chuck joined her a second later.

"So what's up, Sarah?" he asked. When Sarah didn't respond immediately, he continued. "C'mon Sarah, what is it? You know you can tell me anything. That's what friends and partners are for." Sarah took a deep breath.

"Chuck, before I say what I need to say, I need to ask you a question. I want you to think about it before you answer." Sarah said. "I know I asked you this once before, but I need to ask again. Chuck, do you trust me?" Chuck reached out and took Sarah's hand, squeezing it lightly.

"Of course I trust you Sarah." Chuck said earnestly. "I trust you with my life. And Ellie and Devon's. And Morgan's too. But more than that, I trust you always have my best interests at heart. Maybe I wasn't so sure when this all first started, but over the last year I've seen you go above and beyond for me and my happiness. So yes, Sarah Walker, I trust you."

"This is probably going to take a while, and be a little confusing and shocking to you. But I need you to try and not freak out and to let me get through the whole thing before you say anything, ok?" Chuck nodded his head.

"No problem." He replied.

"Ok. Here goes. Chuck, I know that you have feelings for me. And I know being in this cover relationship and not being able to act on your feelings is driving you crazy." Sarah said. "And I know that lately my mask has been slipping, so I know you've probably picked up on the fact that I'm just as frustrated. I hope you know why, but I'm going to go ahead and say it just in case. I love you Chuck Bartowski. I fell for you almost from the moment I walked into the Buy More, it just took me a while to admit it to myself. I know it's against protocol and every rule I've ever been taught, and might end in disaster, but I can't fight it anymore."

Before Sarah could say anything further, she was enveloped in Chuck's arms, his face pressed against hers in a passionate kiss. Somewhat surprised by Chuck's aggressiveness, something that she had never seen, it took Sarah a moment to respond; but only a moment. After a few seconds, she began to kiss him back. The two sat intertwined for several minutes, reveling in the feeling of finally giving in to the feelings they had been denying for more than a year. Finally, reluctantly, Sarah pulled away from Chuck.

"Wow." Sarah said, breathlessly. "Chuck, as much as I would like nothing more than to continue this and jump your bones right here, we're not done with our conversation. There are a couple of other things I need to tell you. Things that may impact us. So please bear with me."

"Ok." Chuck replied. "Go ahead."

"First thing I want get out of the way is a question you've asked me a couple of times. My real name." Sarah said. "I know you're going to have a hard time believing this, but you've known my real first name all along." Chuck's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" Chuck said. Sarah nodded.

"It was Graham's idea actually. As you know, my dad moved me around dozens of times when I was younger, and during that time we used dozens of aliases. Because of that, and the fact that other than my mother I had no other family, any connection to my real name was pretty well convoluted and disguised. So when it came time to pick the name I would be known by when not undercover, he decided I should use my real first name." Sarah said. "As for my real last name, it's Winters. But, just so you know, Walker isn't entirely made up either. It was my great-great-grandmother's maiden name."

"Wow, Sarah. That's amazing." Chuck said. "But why now? Why all of this now?"

"Because of the next thing I need to tell you about. And I need you to listen carefully and not freak out, okay?" At Chuck's nod, she continued. "You remember the night Graham was killed?"

"Yeah." Chuck said sadly. It was the same night that the new Intersect was going to be coming online. It had looked like Chuck would finally be able to go back to a normal life. Granted, there was still the open question about his relationship with Sarah that he had hoped to resolve in the positive at the time, but it was a step in the right direction. Then Sarah had come to his door for their weekly friends' night and told him that Graham was dead and the new Intersect had been destroyed.

"Just so you know, I was planning to tell you how I felt about you that night." Sarah said. "But then I got the news about Graham and the new Intersect and I kind of freaked out."

"That's okay, Sarah, I was freaking out when you told me about his death too." Chuck replied earnestly. "You knew him a lot longer and a lot better than me; he was your boss and mentor. It's only natural that you were freaked out."

"Anyway, what you don't know about that night is the fact that Casey was in your apartment. Several weeks earlier, he had been given an order by Graham and Beckman that he was to carry out that night." Sarah said. Then she fell silent for a moment, unsure of how to continue.

"He was supposed to kill me, wasn't he?" Chuck said quietly.

"How did you know?" Sarah asked, surprised. _"Though it shouldn't be so surprising to me, he is after all one of the smartest people I know."_ Sarah thought to herself.

"I didn't, not really." Chuck said. "But it just kicked into place just now. I guess I was too excited about the prospect of getting on with my life at the time; I should have realized that people don't just let a computer go when it gets obsolete. They get rid of it." Sarah reached out and took Chuck's hand again.

"Just so you know, Casey wasn't going to really do it." Sarah said. "He came to me when he got the order. He didn't agree with it. Believe it or not, Chuck, he's come to respect you and care for you, in his own way. He had also figured out how I felt about you. So he wanted me to go on the run with you. He was going to slip something your drink; a fast acting drug that simulated death. He had it timed to the second; his gun was loaded with blanks. To anyone watching the video, it would look like he really shot you. I would show up a few minutes late for our dinner and find your body, with Casey already gone. I'd call for an ambulance; except it wouldn't be a real one. I paid two acquaintances that owed me a favor to steal an ambulance and impersonate the paramedics. I'd use my credentials to blow off any cops that responded, hop in the ambulance with you and we'd drive off."

"And after that?" Chuck asked.

"We'd go on the run; I had a private plane waiting at the Burbank airport; Carina was going to pick up your sister, Devon, and Morgan and meet us there. So was Casey." Sarah said. "Then we all would have run together."

"Why would Carina and Casey agree to that? And why worry about Morgan, Ellie and Devon?" Chuck asked, not quite believing what he was hearing. "And how did you arrange all this in that short a time, Sarah? I mean you couldn't use the CIA resources, right?"

"As far as Morgan, Ellie and Devon, two reasons. First, because I know how much they mean to you. I know you wouldn't just be able to run and never see them again. Second, because if they had stayed, the CIA would have tried using them to get us to come back. Plus, I've grown pretty attached to them myself." Sarah said, grinning. "As far as the plan, you're right. Truth is I'd been planning a way to escape off the grid with you for almost a year. Chuck, I'm not stupid; I knew what usually happens to assets. And I didn't want that to happen to you. Truth is, I figured out I was in love with you right around the time Carina first showed up. In fact, it was Carina that helped me admit it to myself. As to why Carina and Casey would agree to go along as well, that's a little more complicated, at least in Carina's case and it's one of the things we need to talk about. But before we get to that, Casey's reasoning is a lot simpler. Besides the fact that he's come to respect you and care about you, he's also become disillusioned with how things have become at the CIA and NSA. It's been building over the last year, and the termination order was the last straw. Underneath his gruff assassin persona, Casey is at heart a Marine. He takes the code of conduct that all Marines, indeed all military personnel, are taught, very seriously. Part of that code is that innocents should be protected at all costs, that there is a difference between right and wrong, and that it's his duty to refuse an illegal order. And that's how he viewed Graham and Beckman's order to kill you."

"Ok. So what about Carina?" Chuck asked. Sarah took a deep breath.

 _Here goes nothing,_ Sarah thought to herself. "That's easy Chuck; she's in love with you. You ensnared her the same way you ensnared me when I walked into the BuyMore – by being your lovable, adorable self. You made her fall for you almost as fast as I fell for you – by the time the Peyman Ali mission was over, she was hooked."

"So her showing up here as much as she has had nothing to do with wanting to visit you? She wanted to get close to me?" Chuck asked, incredulously.

"Well, she did want to get closer to you. But that wasn't the only reason. She did want to see me more too." Sarah said.

"Just great." Chuck said, sighing. "I finally get the girl I've been chasing for over a year and I find out her best friend, who's also become my friend, has the hots for me as well. And to make matters worse-" Chuck trailed off and looked down, afraid to go on.

"What's wrong Chuck?" Sarah asked, concerned. Chuck shook his head.

"I…I can't tell you, Sarah. You'll hate me and it will ruin any chance we have." Chuck said, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Chuck. Please. You need to tell me. I promise I won't hate you. Nothing could drive me away." Sarah said. When Chuck stayed silent, Sarah continued. "Chuck…do you have feelings for Carina?" Unable or unwilling to speak, Chuck just nodded. "Do you love her?"

"I…I don't know." Chuck said finally, sounding defeated, his eyes still lowered. "I was attracted to her when she first showed up last year. I mean, who wouldn't be? Next to you she's the most gorgeous woman in the world. And ever since she's been dropping in and we all have been hanging out, I've definitely started feeling something towards her. It's not love…not yet I think. But I can see that happening."

"Chuck, look at me." Sarah said, firmly. Chuck slowly looked up and was taken aback at the wide smile on Sarah's face. "Chuck, I'm not upset or mad. In fact, that makes the last thing I need to talk to you about a little easier. That is unless you get angry with me after I tell you."

"Never, Sarah." Chuck said determinedly.

"Ok Chuck. Here's my biggest secret. Bigger than even my real name. And it's something no one, not even Bryce or Graham ever knew." Sarah said, taking a breath to settle her nerves. "The truth, Chuck, is I'm bi-sexual. You know how I told you Carina and I went through the Farm together? And that she helped me get through Seduction training? Well, I wasn't entirely honest about HOW she helped me. See, I was completely inexperienced in everything romantic, including sex. So Carina took me under her wing and helped me. And somewhere along the line of her helping me, we ended up sleeping together."

If Sarah thought Chuck had had a dumbfounded expression on his face when she revealed her plan to go off grid with him, it was nothing compared to this. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sarah stopped him.

"No Chuck. Let me finish." Sarah said. "And we've been friends with benefits ever since. Actually, in all honesty, we've been more than that. Carina and I decided a long time ago that someday, we'd like to be together as a real couple. Obviously because of our jobs, it wasn't something that we could do just yet. But there was another problem. As much as we loved being with each other, we both still like men, Chuck. Neither of us could imagine not ever being in a loving relationship with a man. So we agreed that if we were ever going to actually be in a serious relationship, we'd have to bring a third person into the mix. Over the years we both had relationships with men, but we'd never found a man that both of us felt we could love…until now."

"Sarah? What exactly are you saying?' Chuck said.

"What I'm saying Chuck is that I love you. I want to be with you. But Carina loves you too. And Carina and I love each other. So the only way this is going to work is if you're willing to share me with her. I'm more than willing to share her with you and you with her." Sarah said.

"Wow." Chuck said, running his hand through his hair. "I'm still not sure I quite believe what I'm hearing. This kind of thing never happens, especially not to a nerd like me."

"Well, you better believe it, Chuckles." Carina's voice sounded from behind him and Sarah. Chuck turned around to see Carina walking up to them, dressed in jeans and a simple blouse. "Surprise." She came over to the blanket and sat down on the other side of Chuck.

"So Chuck, what do you think?" Sarah said. "Can you love two women, who love you and each other at the same time?" Chuck remained silent for a few moments before answering.

"I'd be honored." Chuck said, flashing his famous smile. Sarah quickly enveloped him into another passionate kiss, before she released him, only for Carina to take her place. After another minute, she broke the embrace. "So now what?"

"Well, first we need to talk about a few more things." Sarah said. "You asked me how we were able to arrange everything for the plan I had for us to run. One of the things we learned pretty quickly when getting into the intelligence game is that things can go south pretty quickly. And it's not unheard of for an agent to get disavowed if an operation goes south. So every agent starts collecting an emergency stash of money. We call it our retirement fund. Most agents also usually keep two or three sets of identities in case they have to run."

"Where do you get the money?" Chuck said. "I mean, wouldn't the government notice you withdrawing money from your bank accounts or parts of your pay check being diverted to another bank?"

"That's easy, Chuck." Carina interjected. "We steal it." At Chuck's shocked look, Carina laughed. "Relax Chuck. We don't steal it from just anybody or the government. You see a lot of the bad guys we come up against have a habit of carrying large amounts of cash or stashing it in their homes or other areas. So, when we find it, and we can get away with it, most agents will skim a small portion of it before we turn it over to our respective agencies. Other times, it's not uncommon to find something of value that won't be missed that we can sell later on to raise more funds."

"It's pretty much tacitly condoned by most of the agencies." Sarah added. "As long as the agent doesn't get too carried away and get too greedy. After that, it's a matter of opening a bank account, or several bank accounts, under a false identity in a country or countries that tend to have very strong protections for account holders. Oh, to be sure we usually put a small portion of the money in an account in our real names that the agencies can see. If we didn't they'd be more inclined to look at us more closely."

"I can't say I'm thrilled with the idea that you're funding our getaway plan with stolen funds, even if it's stolen from the bad guys, but I can live with it." Chuck said. "But guys, from the sound of what Sarah was hinting at, this plan of yours must cost tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least. How much money do you have access to?"

"Well, before I started setting things up for all of us, I had about five million dollars, not including some real estate I'd acquired. I've since sold that, and put the proceeds towards the plan." Sarah said. "Carina?"

"Well, working for the DEA we tend to come across cash a lot more frequently than the CIA, so I probably had about ten million." Carina added. "Unlike blondie her, I never had any access to real estate though."

"Fifteen million dollars?" Chuck said in surprise, not quite believing what he was hearing.

"More actually, once you include the proceeds from the real estate sales." Sarah said. "Keep in mind not all of it was from just skimming. A few years ago I helped a Swiss investment banker out of tough spot. Out of gratitude, he's gave me some good investment advice over the years; that's help build my nest egg as big as it is. In turn, I gave Carina the same information."

"What's more, this little operation here in Burbank centered on you has helped too." Carina said. "Because of the high priority Team Bartowski has as for as equipment, weapons and supplies, we've been able to pad the supply requests a little bit to acquire additional supplies that the plan requires. Once Casey came to us, it got even better. He had his own slush fund nearly as big as mine to help out, and also had some very valuable contacts in the international Prepper community."

"Wow. That explains how you could afford to put this plan together. Care to enlighten me as to what the plan is? And under what circumstances we're going to put it into action? I mean, I assume if you get wind of another Termination Order, which would do it, but what else?" Chuck asked.

"Well, obviously, if Fulcrum ever finds out who you are, or succeeds in taking control of the government, we'd institute the plan." Sarah said. "There's one more instance. Understand, Chuck, now that we've all come clean about our feelings for one another, Carina and I have no intention of being separated from you for any significant amount of time. In fact, Carina and I are working on a side plan to get her assigned to Team Bartowski permanently. But also understand that most within the Intelligence hierarchy would not be happy with you being in a real, long-term relationship with either of us. So we're going to have to be careful. If they get wind of our real relationship, it could get ugly; likely one or both of us would be replaced and you'd probably be moved to a secure location so we can't come back to you. If we get even the slightest hint this is eminent, we run. All of us."

"Will we be able to get away with it?" Chuck asked.

"I think so." Carina replied. "As long as we get at least 12 hours warning, we should be fine. Both Sarah and I, not to mention Casey, have a pretty extensive network of people who owe us favors, so we should get wind of things with enough time."

"With a 12 hour head start, we can obscure our path, sending them on multiple false trails while we head for our final destination. And that's the thing we need to talk about, Chuck. This won't be escaping to some area of the country or even the world with style of living you and the others are accustomed to. In order to effectively drop off the grid for good, or at least long enough for there to be a change in situation, we're going to have to go somewhere on the fringes of civilization. Somewhere where all the comforts you're use to are going to be limited, especially fancy technology. It's the only way." Sarah said solemnly.

"Where?" Chuck asked.

"I'd rather not get into that right now." Sarah said. At Chuck's downcast eyes, she hurriedly continued. "It's not that I don't want to tell you, or that I don't trust you, Chuck, I do. But we need to be careful here. The only people who know the entire plan are Carina and myself. Casey knows a significant portion of it, but the closer we can keep our cards to the vest, the better off we'll be. Just in case you get captured, or the CIA or NSA decides to try and get more leverage over you, it would better that you don't know the details. Just rest assured that we have this planned out to the smallest detail and that they'll never find us."

"Besides, Chuckles, it's not like we're going to be living in a third-world cesspool in a hut made out of cow dung." Carina said. "Sarah said fringes of civilization. That just means far away from a lot of people. Yes it won't be quite the standard of living you're used to here, but it won't be that bad. "

"Wow. You guys have really thought this out," Chuck said.

"Of course," Sarah said, grinning. "We wanted to make sure we could stay off the grid as long as possible, even for the rest of our lives if need be. After all, now that we've got you, we're not letting you go."

"Alright. So now that that's all out of the way, what do we do now?" Chuck asked.

"Well, I was thinking we'd get up off this beach, go find a hotel that rents by the hour and where we'd be safe from surveillance, and then Sarah and I would rock your world." Carina said with a grin.

"What…What…?" Chuck stumbled.

"Carina, knock it off." Sarah said, rolling her eyes. "Chuck, she's kidding. Well, not about the fact that we both want to jump your bones. But not tonight. I know you're not the type to just hop in bed with anyone, even if you've known them for months, Chuck. You're different than most guys. That's why we fell for you. So we're not going to rush you into anything."

"What Sarah said," Carina added.

"Thanks." Chuck said. "For the record, the thought of the two of you dragging me to a hotel and rocking my world is VERY tempting. But you're right. It's not me. And it's not either of you, at least any more. Otherwise you would have jumped me months ago. Besides, we need to be careful, like you said. We have to take this slow and figure out a way for us to get what we want without risking the government stepping in and separating us."

 **October 31, 2008**

 _Jakarta, Indonesia – The Indonesian government declared a nation-wide state of emergency in response to increasing cases of Kaana Flu throughout the country, as well as ever-increasing and violent unrest. The Indonesian Army has been fully mobilized and has been ordered to quarantine infected areas, institute martial law, and restore order._

 _Sydney, Australia – The Australian government today confirmed that six cases of Kaana Flu had been discovered in the country. It is believed that all six cases were Indonesians who traveled from their home country to Australia on holiday. Frantic efforts are underway to identify all passengers that were onboard the planes in which the six traveled, as well as anyone they had come in contact with since arriving._

 _"_ _It is a very difficult and time consuming task," Dr. Michael Wellington, of the Ministry of Health, said. "But we are confident in the ability of our personnel to handle the situation."_

 _In the meantime, the government has increased its airport and seaport security, and instituted a ban on all incoming travelers from Indonesia._


	6. Part 1 Chapter 4

**_Author's Note:_** _Well, I knew that the twist I introduced in the last chapter was at best not going to be some people's cup of tea and at worse, majorly upset others._ _I'm happy to say that while there were some people who were not happy that this was not a typical Charah story, I was pleasantly surprised at how tame the disagreement was. There were no flames; and for that I am eternally grateful._

 _Let me state unequivocally, that I am a die-hard Charah fan; however, the relationship between Carina and Sarah always intrigued me, and I will admit to being a typical male in this regard, so the idea of the two of them with Chuck is one that has popped into my head from time to time. Obviously there are issues and concerns with any relationship, and especially with a relationship where there's more than two people involved. This was and is something I'm going to try and be cognizant of going forward. Part of the reason I had the Sarah/Carina relationship form first is because I felt that the only way Chuck would realistically be a part of something like that was if their idea. Having them have pre-existing emotional relationship also helps mitigate some of the concerns of jealousy. If you notice, I didn't have Chuck jump into a relationship with them at the very beginning of the story; I deliberately set it up with Carina becoming more and more involved in his life._

 _All that being said, if you still don't like it, I understand. Hopefully it's not completely off-putting and you'll continue with the story. I personally don't see the relationship as being the primary plot point of the story; an important one, yes. But not the only one._

 _This will be the last chapter for a little bit – I'm going to switch gears back to Second Chances for a little bit. My goal is to put together two more chapters for that story within a week or so._

 _One last item: Consider this fair warning – the violence picks up in this chapter, as does the language and there WILL be a character death in this chapter._

 **Part I: Chapter 4**

 **Office of the Director of the National Security Agency**

 **Fort Meade, Maryland**

 **November 5, 2008**

 **1800 hours**

Major General Diane Beckman sipped her glass of scotch, contemplating the request that was sitting on her desk before her. Truth be told, it hadn't been a surprise; if she was honest with herself, she had been expecting it for several months now.

Contrary to what others thought, she wasn't blind to the situation concerning Team Bartowski over the last year. Oh, they had been good at hiding it, but Beckman had been in this business a long time now; she clearly saw the feelings that had developed between Chuck and Sarah, knew of the rumors of a pre-existing relationship between Carina and Sarah, and the rapidly developing feelings between Chuck and Carina.

At first all the relationship drama had annoyed her. She firmly believed that such feelings should be kept out of their line of work. But over the months it had become hard to maintain that stance. It was clear that Chuck and Sarah's feeling for each other, even if they hadn't admitted it or acted on them, had only served to make the team more effective. So she had looked the other way as much as she could. And truth be told, she had found herself feeling more protective of the team and less emotionally detached.

That was why, when Graham had attempted to blackmail her force her to publicly go along with the Termination Order, she had quietly worked behind the scenes to help Casey, Sarah, and Carina with their secret plan to run, without them knowing of course. A wave of anger rose up inside her as she thought of the former CIA Director of Operations. He had threatened to both destroy the career of her lover, CIA agent Roan Montgomery, and use her past relationship with Mary Bartowski to have her removed from oversight over the Intersect project. Never mind that when she had known Mary that she hadn't been married to Stephen Bartowski, or that they had had a falling out long before that.

So when the request from Casey came to her desk to add another agent to the team, and Carina turned out to be that agent, she had been trying to decide whether to agree to it. Casey and Sarah certainly made very convincing arguments, from an operational standpoint, for the addition. More and more of the team's missions seemed to "intersect" with domestic criminal organizations that had nothing to do with Fulcrum or other enemy intelligence forces, and it would certainly give the whole operation more legal cover, at least domestically, if one of the members was a DEA agent, given that technically, the team was operating illegally as of the moment due to the laws on the books preventing the CIA and NSA from operating domestically.

There was also the developing issue of the Kaana Flu to consider. Though the disease had yet to make an appearance in North America, it was spreading at an alarming rate in other parts of the world. In reality, the situation was more dangerous than the public press releases were indicating. It was felt that it was only a matter of time before it hit American shores. Given what information they had about the situation in those countries where the disease was most prevalent, if that that happened, and they were unable to contain it, things could go to hell very quickly. So having an additional agent assigned to the team to help protect the Intersect in that contingency made sense as well.

But she knew the operational component was only part of why Sarah wanted Carina there. It had become clear over the last two weeks that Chuck, Sarah, and Carina had come to some sort of meeting of the hearts and minds concerning their strange relationship. And that Casey was aware of it and helping them. She had noticed very subtle and creative editing to the surveillance footage of the Bartowski residence, Castle, the Buymore, and Walker's hotel that she had been receiving recently. Nothing big enough to indicate a full-scale love affair and all that it entailed had begun, but enough to tell her that Casey was editing out what she could only guess were brief moments where their masks had slipped and they had engaged in brief and real displays of affection.

After a few more minutes of thought, Beckman put down her glass and signed the form in front of her.

 _"_ _Now I just have to figure out what to do with the other secret about Team Bartowski I found."_ She thought.

 **November 10, 2008**

 _Geneva, Switzerland – The WHO today admitted that attempts to quarantine the Kaana Flu to the province of Sumatra in Indonesia have failed. This comes after confirmed cases of the Kaana Flu erupted in several cities across Indonesia, China, India, and Australia. It is believed that several victims from Sumatra had boarded international flights before they began to show symptoms and therefore slipped through the quarantine. In addition suspected cases have been reported throughout Europe, Africa, and South America. However, the WHO cautions that these cases have not been confirmed and may not be Kaana Flu._

 _Estimates are still being revised, but at last count an estimated ten million people world-wide are thought to have been exposed, with about eighty thousand confirmed dead. Reports have also surfaced that many of the infected, in addition to displaying the severe flu symptoms described by the WHO, have also exhibited several non-traditional symptoms as well. Of particular concern is a report that those in the later stages of the virus have exhibited hyper-aggression, hallucinations, and violent behavior. The WHO has denied these reports._

 **Apartment of Bryce Larkin**

 **Georgetown, Washington D.C.**

 **November 11, 2008**

 **0800 hours**

Bryce groaned as he listened to the music from his neighbor's apartment drift through the way. Normally he wouldn't care; in fact part of the reason he took his apartment in Georgetown was to be near the college party crowd. But today was different. Somewhere along the way he had picked up a cold and it was kicking his butt.

 _"_ _God damn punk ass morons,"_ He thought to himself. Before his thoughts went any further, he was interrupted by another coughing fit. Like all his fits the last twenty-four hours, this one lasted several minutes, leaving him struggling to breathe. Finally it stopped, allowing him to catch his breath. Just as he regained his composure, he heard whooping from the apartment next store, causing him to see red. In a flash he got up from his bed and stomped into the living room, cursing under his breath. In another second he was out the door to his apartment.

Bryce approached his neighbor's door and began pounding on it.

"Open up!" he screamed. When the door didn't open, he reared back and using his training, kicked the door in. Inside his neighbor had five or six girls, and it was clear they were partying.

"Dude! What the hell is your problem?"

"You are, motherfucker!" Bryce snarled and grabbed the kid and started beating him. Around him, the girls were screaming. "Shut up bitches!"

 **Metropolitan Police Department Cruiser**

 **Georgetown, Washington DC**

 **November 11, 2008**

 **0810 hours**

Patrolman Jonathon Willis and Patrolman Sarah Reagan pulled their Radio Motor Patrol (RMP) car to a stop and jumped out. They had just come on patrol when they received a dispatch to the current address. Several calls had come into 911 reporting a disturbance in one of the apartments, including shouting, screaming and things breaking. Then a call came in claiming that someone was in the apartment assaulting people.

"Hurry!" One of the bystanders out front of the apartment building shouted. "It sounds like he's killing them!" Patrolman Willis and Patrolman Reagan looked at each other and rushed into the building.

 **Hallway Outside of Bryce Larkin's Apartment**

 **Georgetown, Washington DC**

 **November 11, 2008**

 **0815 hours**

"Dear God," Patrolman Reagan whispered. Upon reaching the floor where the disturbance had been reported, the pair of police officers had been greeted by a grisly sight. At least seven bodies had lain in the hallway and the apartment where the complaint had had originated from. All of them were bloody and battered, showing signs of having been beaten and in some cases, stabbed. At least one had its neck broken.

Both officers now had their side arms drawn, and had radioed for backup. Once there they had cleared the apartment and determined there was no one there except for the bodies, they made their way back out into the hall and followed a blood trail that led to the apartment next door. Lying in the open doorway was a young woman about nineteen, with her throat ripped out.

The sound of someone moving around inside the apartment drew their attention away from the body. Slowly, the two police officers moved into the apartment.

"Metropolitan Police! Come out with your hands up!" Patrolman Willis shouted, eyes scanning the room. The apartment was a disaster, with furniture knocked over.

"Screw you, pig!" a voice shouted from off to his side.

"Willis, look out!" Reagan shouted. Willis turned towards the voice, trying to get his weapon around to bear. Before he could completely turn towards the threat, he was knocked to the ground as a body impacted him, his side arm skittering across the ground.

"Get off him!" Patrolman Reagan shouted, pointing her side arm at the assailant. He was a lithe man, with black hair.

"You're next bitch!" he shouted. Then he brought a knife out and slashed the stunned patrolman's throat. Reagan screamed and fired several shots at him, two of which impacted him in the chest, dropping him to the ground.

Patrolman Reagan reached to the radio on her shoulder and spoke into it. "Officer needs assistance. Shots fired! My partner has been stabbed and is down! Multiple casualties! Roll EMS to this location!" When the dispatcher had confirmed her transmission, Patrolman Reagan moved towards the downed assailant, intent on handcuffing him. He appeared dead, or at least unconscious, but she didn't want to take any chances. As she reached to cuff his arms, his eyes suddenly snapped open and he lunged at her. A moment later she was on the ground, trying to fend off the man. A moment later she felt a pain in her hand as the man bit into her hand.

"Get off me, you fucker!" she shouted, adrenaline coursing through her body, allowing her to throw him off. Scrambling back she retrieved her side arm from where it had fallen and fired three more shots at him, all of them hitting him in the chest and he went down once again.

 **Office of the Director**

 **Central Intelligence Agency**

 **Langley, VA**

 **November 11, 2008**

 **0930 hours**

CIA Director William Marcus finished off the glass of Scotch he had poured himself a few minutes earlier. Marcus took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, and let out a cough. For the last day he had been battling a cold, and it was starting to take its toll. What's more, it seemed to be making its way around headquarters; a number of the staff had called off in the last 24 hours.

But those problems paled in comparison to the latest headache. One of his best agents, Bryce Larkin, had been shot and killed by Metropolitan Police not more than two hours ago. Details were sketchy, but he had apparently had some sort of psychotic break and went on a killing rampage that ended with eight civilians and one police officer dead. He had just dispatched another of his agents, Daniel Shaw, to the DC morgue to observe the autopsy and collect the body.

Marcus coughed again. And then again. And again. Before he knew it, Marcus was wracked with a massive coughing fit, unable to breath or talk.

"Director? Are you ok?" Nancy Williams, his Executive Secretary and probably the second most hardworking person in CIA Headquarters, called from the outer office. Hearing her boss continue to cough, she got up from her desk and made her way inside, just in time to see Director Marcus collapse out of his seat. Nancy ran out to her desk and picked up the phone and dialed an extension. "Medical emergency in the Director's Office! Send someone now!"

 **Washington DC Morgue**

 **Washington D.C.**

 **November 11, 2008**

 **1000 hours**

DC Assistant Medical Examiner Abigail Merrick sighed as she heard the door to the Morgue open, signaling the arrival of an unwanted visitor. Abigail HATED to be interrupted when she was getting ready to do an autopsy, and today it was especially annoying. She had nine bodies laid out on tables, needing attention. Not to mention she already felt like shit, having battling with a cold for more than a week, ever since she had returned from holiday with her girlfriend in Singapore.

 _"_ _Why the hell can't people leave me alone when I'm working?"_ She thought angrily. _"I swear, if I don't get some peace and quiet soon, I'm going to lose it."_

"Dr. Merrick?" a male voice asked from behind her. Taking a deep breath to calm her annoyance, she turned around. Standing before her was a well-dressed man, about 5'11, 170lbs with black hair. He was wearing a suit that screamed "Federal Agent." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his identification. "CIA." He said. "The body you have on that table is one of ours. I'm afraid I'm going to need to observe."

"Seriously?" she asked, incredulously. "You can't just read my final report?"

"No," Shaw said.

"Fine." She growled angrily "Follow me; I insist on anyone present being properly protected." With that, she turned and led him to the back of the room where several lockers containing Personal Protective Equipment where stored. Opening one of the lockers, she pointed to the contents. "Put those one, and be quick about it. I don't have all night!"

Shaking his head at the Medical Examiner's temper, Shaw began to pull on the indicated gear, taking his attention away from her. As a result, he missed the dark look that began to creep on her face.

 _"_ _Goddamn government agents."_ Dr. Merrick fumed to herself. _"He's just going to be in the way of my work. I bet he'll have dozens of questions, and expect me to answer them; it'll slow me down to the point I'll be here for hours. Motherfucker."_ She watched him put on the gear for another moment, before her anger reached its blowing point. In a quick movement she grabbed a scalpel from the tray next to her and lunged at him, screaming incoherently.

Shaw heard the scream behind him and turned in surprise. His eyes widened as he saw Dr. Merrick lunge at him with the scalpel. Daniel Shaw believed he was an above-average agent and prided himself for his fighting skills, but the combination of a lower guard since he was in DC and the swiftness of the assault slowed his reaction time. He twisted to get out the way, but was only partially successful as the scalpel sliced through his left arm, causing him to scream in pain.

Frantically, he reached for his side arm, only to realize it was no longer on his belt. Instead, it was laying on the top shelf of the locker, where he had placed it to change into the PPE.

 _"_ _Stupid rooking mistake."_ He chided himself, instead preparing to defend himself hand-to-hand. A moment later the Dr. was lunging at him again. This time Shaw was better prepared and managed to side step the lunge completely. Using a side kick, he knocked the doctor to the ground, where the scalpel fell out of her hand. A moment later both he and the doctor were lunging for the scalpel. Shaw managed to grab it first.

"Stay back!" he shouted, twisting his body to face her. Instead she screamed again and launched herself at him. His hand holding the scalpel shot out, stabbing her in the chest. She screamed again before lunging a third time. Unable to retrieve the scalpel from her chest, Shaw used several wrestling techniques to get behind her and put her into a choke hold. She continued to struggle for several minutes until her oxygen was depleted and she fell, unconscious. Releasing her, Shaw quickly stood up and went to the locker to retrieve his side arm. Once he had done so, he went over to the phone and called security. That done, he looked at the wound on his arm. It was a deep cut, and he was bleeding. What he didn't know however, was that in the struggle, some of the blood from the doctor's chest wound had fallen into the cut. Daniel Shaw's life was now on a rapidly diminishing clock, though he did not know it.


	7. Part 1 Chapter 5

**_Author's Note_** ** _:_** _And I'm back to this story. Hopefully I didn't leave you hanging too much. Anyway, this chapter mainly focuses on showing a bit more of Fulcrum's plan, especially the other diversions they put into place to keep the world from focusing exclusively on the plague. I'll also warn you that starting with this chapter, you may notice some very definite political biases within the writing, though in this particular chapter I don't think it's too bad. Apologies in advance if they offend anyone._

 **Part 1: Chapter 5**

 **November 12, 2008**

 _Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran – President Hassan Larijani today denied accusations that Iranian troops illegal entered the Republic of Azerbaijan, calling them "utter fabrications by Russia and the West made in an attempt to smear the Islamic Republic."_

 _Tensions between Moscow and Tehran have been mounting in recent weeks due to alleged Iranian support of opposition rebels battling the Moscow-backed Azerbaijani government._

 _The accusations of direct Iranian military involvement came after yesterday's devastating attack on Azerbaijani government forces near the border city of Lenkaran. Both Russian and Western intelligence officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity have stated that there is clear evidence that elements of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps of the Iranian military were involved. If true, this brings a new and more dangerous element of conflict to a region of the globe that is already reeling from both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and the recent outbreak of the Kaana Flu._

 _New Dehli, India – The government of the Federal Republic of India today declared a state of emergency in response to the growing number of its population exposed and infected by the Kaana Flu, in addition to the waves of refugees from neighboring countries already being ravaged by the Kaana Flu. As of noon today, martial law will be in place in this country of one point two billion people. Scattered reports of rioting in several of the country's major cities have also surfaced, though officials have not confirmed this at this time._

 _Baghdad, Iraq – Explosions rocked the capital city of Iraq as insurgents launched what one U.S. military spokesman is characterizing as a coordinated nation-wide attack equivalent in scope to the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War. Unlike Tet however, U.S., Coalition, and Iraqi government forces were not taken completely by surprise, as intelligence had been warning for weeks now that the insurgency was preparing for a major offensive._

 _The attack comes as attempts to cut off the supply of foreign volunteers and weapons entering the country to aid the insurgency have stalled. Officials here in Baghdad believe that the insurgents are now getting covert support from not only al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, but also from several unnamed foreign governments._

 **Fulcrum Command Bunker**

 **Somewhere in the Nevada Desert**

 **November 12, 2008**

 **1100 hours**

"Ladies and gentleman," Ted said addressing the dozen or so members of Fulcrum high command gathered in the secure conference room. "Our plans are finally coming to fruition. I'm going to ask Mr. Colt to bring us up to speed."

"We have successfully released Kaana in more than three dozen locations across the globe, and our sources inside the WHO and several governments report the disease is spreading much faster than anyone is admitting. Already several countries are close to collapsing under the strain of the disease and fear that it has created. Additionally, our agents in Iran and Russia are maneuvering both countries towards confrontation, a move that will further tax the resources of the world and move them away from combating the virus. We also have agents in several other areas ready to instigate further confusion." Mr. Colt said. "We've also stepped up supply shipments to the insurgency in Iraq, which has allowed them to tie down significant numbers of US and Coalition troops."

"What about our forces?" Vincent Smith asked.

"All of our people have received the vaccine and are protected. We have three dozen facilities under lock-down awaiting your orders. Once the time is right, they'll begin moving. Additionally, we've distributed a modified vaccine to our allies. It protects against the virus like the one we gave our people, but it's of limited duration. If they want to stay immune, they'll have to keep doing what we tell them." Mr. Colt replied

"And the Intersect?" Bill Bergey asked.

"Archangel reports that he has agents in place at the primary location he believes to be the ARK bunker, as well as three additional possible locations." Mr. Colt answered. "The President hasn't implemented the ARK plan yet, but it should only be a matter of time."

 **Office of the Director**

 **Centers for Disease Control and Prevention**

 **Atlanta, Georgia**

 **November 12, 2008**

 **1400 hours**

Erin Lansing, M.D. (Rear Admiral, United States Public Health Service) ended the phone call she had just been on shivered. The day just kept getting worse and worse. It had started early this morning when reports came in from several US cities on the East Coast of incidents that appeared to be directly linked to the Kaana Flu, something the CDC and government had been trying to prevent from reaching the US. But it appeared that those efforts had failed. And that was bad news.

Shortly after the first reports of the Kaana Flu surfaced in Indonesia, the CDC had dispatched a team from the CDC's Epidemiological Intelligence Service to the area. What they had reported back in the weeks since the outbreak had occurred there had been frightening. The Kaana Flu had been unlike any other disease that they had encountered; it seemed to combine the traits of several diseases combined, heightening concern that someone had created the flu in a lab. As bad as that had been, it was the violence committed by those in the later stage of the virus that was most concerning. They lashed out and attacked any human being in their sight, unless that person was already infected. Reports had made clear that they would attack in any way possible, from using fists to beat someone, grabbing bludgeoning instruments, and even in many cases, biting victims. Interestingly enough, they seemed to only attack uninfected persons; when encountering another infected, they seemed to leave them alone.

The Indonesian government had attempted to quarantine the island to keep the disease there but within days it had become clear the quarantined had failed as new cases appeared in neighboring provinces of Indonesia. Isolated cases also started to show up elsewhere but luckily it had appeared that the WHO had caught them in time to prevent further outbreaks.

But that hope had ended a week ago when thousands of cases of Kaana Flu suddenly exploded in about two dozen countries around the world. Within days the number of cases had reached the millions. And two things were clear from the data. First, the disease was making its way across the globe towards the United States in a rapid pace. And second, the shear geographic distribution between the timing of all the outbreaks, other than Indonesia, were happening too close together to be anything other than an engineered act. Someone was using this virus as a weapon.

To make matters worse, the WHO, CDC, the National Institute of Health (NIH), the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Pasteur Institute, and various other government, corporate, and private labs and facilities were getting nowhere trying to develop a vaccine or treatment for the disease. Because of the engineered nature of the virus, specifically its mish-mash of genes and symptoms of at least three different diseases, no one had been able to fully map out the virus. Add to that the fact that like the AIDS virus, the Kaana flu seemed to have an uncanny ability to mutate just enough and just fast enough to prevent any vaccine or treatment that seemed promising one minute from working the next.

 _"Whoever developed this bug is a genius. A diabolical sociopath and mass murderer, but a genius nonetheless."_ Dr. Lansing thought to herself, grimly.

 **November 19, 2008**

 _Atlanta, Georgia – The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) today confirmed the first cases of Kaana Flu in the United States. The CDC statement indicates that isolated cases have been discovered in Boston, New York, Baltimore, Washington DC and Charleston. Officials state that the total number of cases is less than five hundred._

 _Meanwhile the WHO today admitted that the Kaana Flu has reached pandemic proportions, with an estimated 20 million worldwide infected, with the death toll reaching two hundred thousand. In addition, wide-spread rioting, attributed to the combined effects of the flu and the breakdown of basic services have been reported in the hardest hit areas in Indonesia, China, India, Australia, and South Africa. There have been an estimated one hundred thousand confirmed cases in Europe._

 _Warsaw, Poland – Tragedy struck Poland today as Polish Airlines Flight 779 crashed just outside of Warsaw. Reports are sketchy, but according to one source, the pilot reported a medical emergency onboard the flight just prior to the crash. Approximately two minutes later, witness describe seen the plane diving towards the ground, where it crashed. Authorities say that all aboard were killed, as well as six people on the ground near the crash site. There is speculation that the medical emergency may be directly related to the Kaana Flu and in fact may also have caused the crash, but authorities at this point have denied any connection._

 _Atlanta, Georgia – Atlanta police today arrested nine members of the Earth Liberation Army, a well-known international environmental extremist group identified as an eco-terrorist organization by more than a dozen countries, for plotting to attack the Center for Disease Control with a truck bomb similar in design to the one used by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Sources close to the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, stated that the suspects had targeted the CDC in hopes of preventing the development of a vaccine or cure for the Kaana Flu. The Earth Liberation Army has long argued that diseases such as Ebola, AIDS, and as of late, Kaana Flu, are the Earth's attempt to defend itself from human beings._

 _"Mother Earth is within its rights to attempt to destroy the parasite known as humanity!" John Steinberg, one of the more prominent ELA members has recently been quoted as saying. "We have no right trying to prevent the cleansing that MUST happen to save the planet!"_

 _New York City, New York – Police are investigating what are being characterized as a series of hate crimes against Mosques and Muslims that have occurred in the city over the last 48 hours. The incidents range from anti-Muslim graffiti being painted on the exterior walls of at least two Mosques, damaging vandalism, and at several assaults. Eye-witnesses to at least one of the assaults report that the attackers used numerous anti-Muslim epitaphs and phrases, including the accusation that the Kaana Flu is a Muslim plot to attack the West. Federal, state, and city officials were quick to deny that the Kaana Flu was part of any radical Islamic plot._

 _"The facts simply don't support the idea." Secretary of Homeland Security Alice Dean stated. "After all, some of the hardest hit areas as of now are majority-Muslim nations."_


	8. Part 1 Chapter 6

**_Author's Note:_** _Ok folks, this is the last chapter of Part 1 of this story. I am in the process of writing the first chapter of Part 2 as well. With regards to this chapter, we're going to learn a little more about Chuck/Sarah/Carina's relationship, and they're secret is going to start unravelling. You should also be warned that this chapter has significant political bias in it, specifically how I view certain "social justice" types and my feelings on guns. (Here's a hint – I'm a card-carrying lifetime member of the NRA). I apologize in advance if anyone is offended, but I do not apologize for the views themselves._

 **Part 1, Chapter 6**

 **Bartowski Residence**

 **Echo Park**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 20, 2008**

 **0100 hours**

Chuck closed the door quietly behind him, hoping that it had been quiet enough not to wake Ellie or Devon. It was certainly not the first time he had been sneaking back into the apartment late at night, whether it was because of a mission or getting caught up in a gaming session with Morgan and missing curfew when he was younger. This time however, was different.

It was not a mission or gaming session that had kept him out so late. Instead, it was something much more pleasant. True to her and Sarah's word to Chuck, they had managed to convince Beckman three weeks earlier that it would be beneficial to add another team member, namely her, to the team. Oddly enough, it hadn't taken that much convincing. And so, with Carina now assigned to Team Bartowski, the trio had begun to work on deepening their relationship. They were taking things slow, of course. While Sarah and Carina and Sarah and Chuck had already developed a deep relationship, the reality was that Carina and Chuck's relationship was not very deep; all three agreed that despite the hormone-induced pressure they had been feeling to move things to a more physical level, it would be best to wait until the emotional connection between Chuck and Carina was not quite so new or fragile.

And so the trio had been doing what most normal couples do when in the beginnings of a relationship. They had gone on several discreet dates, just spending quality time with each other, learning about each other. Granted, it was made difficult by a number of factors, from missions popping up, to the need to maintain their covers (in Sarah and Chuck's case as normal boyfriend/girlfriend and as Casey's sister, in Carina's case), and to hide their growing relationship from the CIA/NSA. Luckily they did have some help; since the fiasco of the Termination Order, Casey had been brought fully into the fold by Sarah, not that he exactly needed it. He had known for a while about Chuck and Sarah's feelings for one another. And he had also noticed the fact that Carina was coming around more and that Chuck and Carina had started to develop a friendship. So it wasn't a total surprise when Sarah and Carina had lain all their cards on the table to him. And he had agreed to help them. In addition to adding his own endorsement to Sarah's request for Carina to be assigned to the team, he had also begun discreetly editing surveillance footage where necessary to remove any hint of the trio's relationship from video, and to provide cover for them when they went on their dates.

In addition to the deepening relationship between the three, the present circumstance also had added benefits for the team as a whole. With an additional agent, the team was not nearly as outgunned or outmanned as it would have been on several missions. And Carina had turned out to be a very good partner, despite her own wild devil-may care reputation. And between Casey, Sarah, and Carina, Chuck's training was rapidly progressing. True, he was still very much an amateur compared to the other agents, and though he had learned the mechanics of the various firearms the team used, he was still very reluctant to use them. Much to his surprise, as well as the others, the one area of the training he had taken to was martial arts. Once he had gotten over his physical laziness, which was the result of habit, he had quickly come to enjoy it. Though still slim, his body had started to make the transition from lanky to lithe as the training had begun to fix some of his physical ungracefulness and awkwardness. Not enough to have drastically altered his physique or his overall presence, but enough that he no longer stuck out like a sore thumb when in the presence of the rest of the team.

Tonight's foray was not related to a mission or training. Tonight had been one of those glorious and precious dates that the trio had tried to squeeze in when they could. At Carina's insistence, they had traveled to a club on the outskirts of Los Angeles to go dancing. Chuck had resisted at first; his own skill or lack thereof making him very uncomfortable. But Sarah and Carina had dragged him out on the floor and he quickly came to the conclusion that few things in life felt as good as having the two most beautiful women in the world dancing with him, their bodies gyrating and grinding against him more often than not. At the same time, it had been very embarrassing. Chuck had never been one for even moderate displays of public affection, so needless to say, this had his face in a permanent flaming blush.

"It's about time you go home." Ellie's voice said from the darkness, startling him out of his thoughts, causing him to jump. He spun around towards the sound of the voice as the lamp next to the couch click on.

"Jeez sis! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he said excitedly, then calmed down. "What are you still doing up? Don't you have a shift at the hospital in the morning?"

"I can ask you the same thing, Chuck." Ellie replied.

"I was out with Sarah." Chuck said.

"Yes Chuck, I know that." Ellie said rolling her eyes. "What I mean is why are you getting back so late? I thought you guys were just going to dinner."

"We did. But then we decided to go to a club for some dancing." Chuck replied.

"Oh, okay." Ellie said. "Did you bump into anyone you knew?" Now Chuck was getting suspicious. His sister seemed to be fishing for something.

"Actually, we ran into Carina." Chuck said. His sister had met Carina already, as part of her cover as Casey's sister, but the trio had agreed to keep the relationship secret from her for now. Part of that was for the purposes of the cover and staying under the CIA/NSA radar, but part of it was also out of concern for how Ellie would react.

"Really? That's nice. Was she on a date?" Ellie asked.

"Uh, yeah. A blind date actually." Chuck said. "It apparently didn't go too well."

"That's too bad. I really like her." Ellie said. "Maybe I can try setting her up with one of the doctors at the hospital."

"I don't think that's necessary. She seems to do pretty well in the male attention department and I'm not sure she'd be up to fixed up after tonight's disaster."

"Ok. But if she changes her mind, all she has to do is ask."

"I'll let her know the next time I see her." Chuck said, then yawned. "Well, I'm heading to bed." With that he walked off to his room.

 **30 minutes later…**

Ellie lay in bed, Devon snoring soundly next to her, thinking. She knew something was going on with her brother, she had known something was up for months. He had become more secretive, and spent more time out of the house than he used to. At first she thought it was just attributable to his relationship with Sarah, something she had been glad about. For the first time since the disaster at Stanford, he seemed happy. But slowly, over time, she began to suspect that something else was going on. There had been several occasions where Chuck had promised to be there for a specific event, and then either showed up late or not at all, which was very unlike him. A couple of times she had found odd receipts and on two occasions, friends of hers had sworn they had seen Chuck somewhere where he hadn't had been, at least based on what he and Sarah had told her about their days on those occasion.

But tonight was the last straw. He had downright lied to her, thinking back to the text she had received from one of her friends for the hospital. Nancy was a party girl, and had gone out to a club outside of Los Angeles tonight with some other friends.

 _Ellie! How come you didn't tell me your brother was going to be here tonight?! And that he has a new girlfriend!_ The text had read. When Sarah had texted her back asking what she was talking about, Nancy had responded that Chuck was at the club with a beautiful redhead and had seemed very close to her.

 _I tried to catch up to them to talk, but they left the club before I could catch up them._ She had said.

 _"I can't believe he lied to me!"_ Ellie fumed. _"And I can't believe he's cheating on Sarah! I have to tell her."_ Ellie resolved to arrange a lunch meeting with Sarah as soon as she could. She loved her brother, but this was unacceptable. Besides, she really liked Sarah and had come to look on her as a close friend.

 **Apartment of John Casey**

 **Echo Park**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 20, 2008**

 **0730 hours**

John sipped his morning coffee as he reviewed the security recordings from the previous nights, as always looking to make sure there wasn't anything incriminating for Chuck, Sarah, and Carina that had to be deleted before it was sent on to the CIA/NSA for further cataloging and analysis. He chuckled as he watched the exchange between Chuck and Ellie.

 _"That woman would make a hell of interrogator."_ He thought, not for the first time. Then he moved on to review the logs of emails and text messages related to anyone connected with the Chuck or the team. When he got to the records of Ellie's messages, he stopped dead, color draining from his face, slightly.

 _"Oh shit."_ He thought. This was going to be a problem, one they would have to find a solution to and fast. If he knew Ellie, she was already planning on confronting Chuck or Sarah, or possibly both. If she did that, there was a good chance things would spiral quickly out of control before the team could talk her down, and that increased the chance of something in the surveillance slipping passed Casey and tipping the CIA/NSA off about the trio's relationship. And Casey knew what would happen if they found _that_ out. He also knew that the trio would run in that case. And though he would wish them luck and hope they made it, he would not be able to run with them. Helping them escape an illegal and immoral termination order was one thing, but even though he disagreed with splitting them up, his sense of duty and honor would not allow him to go rogue. It was a possibility the group had already discussed. The most his sense of honor would allow him to override his duty in that circumstance would be to give them a head start by looking in the wrong direction for a few days. It was for that reason he was sure that Sarah and Carina hadn't told him all of the details of the escape plan they intended to use in the case of a termination order. And he didn't blame them one bit.

Sighing, Casey picked up the secure burner phone that he kept for emergencies, and typed a quick message to Sarah and Carina, both of whom had a similar device.

 _Walker, Miller – we need to talk ASAP. Surgeon suspects something. Code Blue._

 **November 21, 2008**

 _London, England – Chaos erupted today as hundreds of patients, ill with the Kaana Flu, started rampaging in several hospitals throughout London. Hospital security and Metropolitan Police response units were quickly overwhelmed and the rioting spread to neighboring streets. The Ministry of Health estimates that as many as an additional 50,000 persons may have been exposed to the virus because of this._

 _Elsewhere in Great Britain, numerous outbreaks and riots of similar sizes have been reported in Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Norfolk, Belfast, and Coventry. Current estimates are that about one hundred and eighty thousand people have been infected. Violence from rioting and disruption of services has led to an estimated fifteen thousand dead, and still climbing._

 _The Prime Minister has issued orders to the Army to deploy throughout the country to try and stem the tide and protect infrastructure, but members of the government, speaking on the condition of anonymity, are fearing that the situation may already be too out of hand to control._

 _Islamabad, Pakistan – Tensions between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Republic of India, which have been building for years, exploded into an orgy of violence today as Pakistani forces launched a surgical strike at key border areas between the two nations. Pakistan has accused India of deliberately allowing thousands of refugees, many of them infected with Kaana Flu, to cross the frontier and into Pakistan in an attempt to pass the problem for caring for the sick onto the Islamic Republic. India had denied those charges, and countered that Pakistan has been aiding the spread of Kaana Flu by sending its own sick citizens across the border into India._

 _The international community is watching the situation closely. Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear weapons, and have a history of conflict, having fought four wars and numerous skirmishes since both nations achieved independence from Great Britain._

 _"It's a very dangerous situation." George Walsh, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, stated. "If either side feels it's been pushed too far, it's entirely possible they'll decide to go nuclear. That would be very bad."_

 **November 22, 2008**

 _New York City, New York – City officials today canceled the city's Thanksgiving Day Parade amid concerns over the ongoing Kaana Flu pandemic. The city has been inundated with cases, with latest estimates reaching 80,000. Several sections of the city have devolved into an orgy of violence and fire, with the NYPD and FDNY stretched to their limits._

 _"We simply cannot guarantee the safety of the parade, or the spectators who regularly come to watch it." Mayor Michael Bloomberg stated. "City services are being stretched to the limit. I urge all residents to remain calm and refrain from any unnecessary public travel until we can get a better handle on the situation."_

 **Student Union**

 **St. Mary's College of Maryland**

 **St. Mary's City, Maryland**

 **November 22, 2008**

 **1900 hours**

"I'm telling you, all this Kaana Flu nonsense is just an excuse for those damn neo-conservatives to justify another imperialist war somewhere." Nila Hartigan explained to the other members of her group gathered at a table in the Student Union. "You watch, within a week, they'll be telling us how we have to invade Indonesia."

"I don't know Nila," Jorge Rodriguez said from his spot on the other side of the table. "From what I've seen on the net, if anything the government is downplaying how wide-spread this thing is."

"And I heard Professor Kelly saying that there's been a number of students here that have gone to the hospital suddenly in the last day or so." Michelle Hogan said.

"Nothing but propaganda. Typically Republican bullshit. I bet they have an army of paid lackey's posting that stuff just to scare everyone." Will Reid interjected. "Just like all the 'supposed' crime data they use to justify letting people own guns." Nila nodded. She and Will were two of the directors of the campus branch of a number of activist organizations, among them Students Demand Action on Gun Violence and Code Pink.

"Yep." Nila said. "Thank god we convinced the school to ignore all that nonsense and ban guns from campus. Hell, they even got rid of the guns the security department kept."

"And the students Michelle was just talking about?" Jorge asked.

"Who knows? Could be food poisoning, the regular flu." Nila said.

Their conversation was interrupted when two tables over, a student began coughing uncontrollably.

"John, are you ok?" one of the other students at the table asked. Nila and the others looked over at the commotion, and then dismissed it. The student in question, John Malcom, was one of the few politically conservative students at the small liberal arts college, and a constant thorn in the side of Nila's crusades to make the world better.

"Too bad this Kaana thing isn't real." Nila said. "It would almost be worth it if it would get rid of him and his reactionary friends." Her friends laughed.

 **Quad**

 **St. Mary's College of Maryland**

 **St. Mary's City, Maryland**

 **November 22, 2008**

 **2030 hours**

Nila took a deep breath of the night air as she slowly made her way across the Quad towards her campus apartment, reveling in how fresh the air felt.

 _"This area would be perfect if it wasn't for the Navy base and all the rednecks."_ She thought. _"I wish we could figure out a way to shut that base down. Hell, I wish we could shut them all down."_ Nila continued walking, lost in her own thoughts and dreams of forcing the kind of utopian revolution she wanted. So wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn't notice her friend Missy Gates walking towards her in the opposite direction. A moment later the two bumped into each other.

"Watch where you're going!" Missy yelled. Nila blinked in surprise, both due to the fact that she had bumped into someone, and at the tone of Missy's voice. Missy was usually very soft spoken.

 _"Come to think of it, what is she doing out here walking around? I thought she was sick."_ Nila thought. "Sorry Missy, I didn't see you. Guess I was lost in my own little world."

"Isn't that always the case, bitch?" Missy snarled. "All you ever think about is yourself and precious crusades to save the world."

"Hey! No need to get nasty." Nila replied, confused. Missy usually was right there with her on her crusades. "Are you okay? You don't sound like yourself."

"I'll be better once I do this!" Missy shouted, rearing back and punching Nila in the face, sending her to the ground. "I'm tired of your bullshit, Nila. Now it's time to pay the piper!" Before Nila could even react, Missy was on her, hitting her in various areas of her body.

"HELP!" Nila shouted as the blows continued to come, wincing in pain. She heard footsteps running towards them. Hope surged through her as she tried to twist and see who was coming. It was at that moment that Missy let out an inhuman scream and bit her arm.

"Get off her!" a voice shouted. The voice belonged to a Campus Security Officer. "I mean it! Get off her now or I'll have to Pepper Spray you!" Missy released Nila's arm and lunged at the Security Officer, wrapping herself around his legs and bringing him to the ground.

"Fuck you pig!" Missy shouted, biting into his thigh. The guard screamed and hit Missy, knocking her off him, only for her to lunge at him a second later. The fight continued for several minutes, with the Security Officer desperately trying to stop Missy's assault and restrain her. But no matter what he did, she kept coming. Finally he abandoned the "progressive" training that the College had used for its security force and began to use street techniques. He managed to get her into a sleeper hold. Unfortunately, she was thrashing so violently that his positioning slipped slightly and after a few seconds she stopped fighting. She was dead.

"Oh god." He said when he realized what had happened. He was no fool; while the surrounding community was very conservative, and would likely acquit him of any crime given the circumstances, he knew his career as a Campus Security Officer was over. It didn't matter the circumstances to places like this; he was now a marked man. The other girl, the one that had originally been attacked, was staring at him wide-eyed, her face pale and reflecting terror. He was about to say something when he was knocked to the ground.

Nila lay on the ground, frozen in fear as she watch the three new figures approach from behind the security guard and tackle him to the ground. He struggled for a few moments before one of them bit his throat, causing him to let out a gurgling sound before collapsing dead. A second later the three figures had turned towards her and began making their way to her, their faces pulsing in with rage.

As the three attackers fell upon her, a stray and ironic thought briefly flashed across the back of her mind. _"I really wish I had a gun."_ She thought, before the world went black, and the distant sound of screaming began elsewhere on campus.

 **November 23, 2008**

 _Waco, Texas – Tragedy struck this city of 132,000 today as members of the successor group to the Branch Davidians, called 'Branch, the Lord Our Righteousness,' claiming that the end times were upon the world, committed mass suicide. Approximately 386 members of the small organization drank poisoned Kool Aid, in a scene eerily similar to the Jonestown tragedy of 1978. Additionally, at least a dozen other members of the cult who were not in Waco were also found dead, also from suicide._

 _Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Wide-spread protests have erupted in this city in southeastern Pennsylvania overnight, fueled by anger following the shooting deaths of six African-Americans by police. The incident occurred twenty-four hours earlier, when members of the Philadelphia Police Department responded to 911 calls concerning a disturbance at a gentleman's club. Upon arriving, police state that the subjects were engaged in acts of assault against other patrons, ignored their orders to get down on the ground, and attacked officers, forcing them to fire._

 _"It's absolute bullshit." The Rev. Marius Thomas, a noted leader and firebrand within the Philadelphia African-American community, said. "These young men were unarmed; how could they have seriously threatened police officers armed with guns? This was nothing more than another in a long line of abuses by fascist and racist police propping up the white hegemony."_

 _Although the Rev. Thomas insists that the protests have been peaceful, police officials contradict this, stating that significant incidents of objects being tossed at police and bystanders have occurred, along with incidents of assault. They say that since the protests began, nearly three dozen protestors and eight police officers have been injured._

 _Philadelphia Mayor William Kline (D), has promised a swift and independent investigation into the shootings._


	9. Part 2 Chapter 1

**_Author's Note:_** _Thanks to everyone who has sent reviews! Once again, I know that my decision to step away from the traditional Chuck/Sarah romance into a Chuck/Sarah/Carina relationship is controversial and has rubbed some of you the wrong way. No problem, I fully understand that we all have our own tastes and I thank you for reading as far as you have and for expressing your thoughts to me. Rest assured that this story is a one-off; I have no intention of abandoning pure Charah in my other stories._

 _To answer one question from the reviews of the previous chapters, Ellie was treating Chuck like a teenager for a number of reasons. First, remember, she raised Chuck, and at this point in the series, she was still pretty much acting more in parental mother hen role for the most part, right up until Season 3. Second, in canon, Chuck's spy life continuously intruded on his regular life, leading to conflicts between he and Ellie when he missed events – that has not changed in this story; in fact, it's gotten worse since in addition to his spy duties, he's now in a situation where he has to publicly (and in front of Ellie) act like he's in a relationship with Sarah, while convincing the NSA/CIA that nothing is going on, while in fact being in a REAL relationship with Sarah and Carina. So Ellie has been noticing things that don't seem right to her and she's questioning them. Finally, the reason she was so confrontational last chapter (and in the beginning of this one) was because she received, in her mind, proof that something was going on from her co-worker who saw Chuck with Carina._

 _Finally, towards the end of this chapter we will start to see the personal impact the Kaana flu situation and the team's plans to run are going to have on our heroes._

 **Part II: Chapter 1**

 **Cafeteria**

 **West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, California**

 **November 24, 2008**

Sarah set her tray down on the table and took a seat across from Ellie, trying to keep the nervousness off her face. When she got the call from Ellie this morning asking to meet up for lunch at the hospital, she knew what was coming. Carina, Chuck, Casey and her had spent several hours over the last few days discussing the situation and what to do about it.

"Sarah, I need to confess that I had an ulterior motive for asking you to lunch today." Ellie said shortly. "I mean, don't me wrong, I like hanging out with you; you've become one of my best friends over the last year. But I have something important I need to tell you."

"What is it Ellie? Are you okay? Is Devon?" Sarah asked, playing dumb.

"Yes, we're fine." Ellie said. "It's about Chuck. Look Sarah, I don't know how to say this, but I think Chuck is cheating on you."

"Ellie, that's ridiculous." Sarah said. "Chuck is not the type of guy to cheat on anyone."

"Sarah, I know it's hard to believe." Ellie insisted. "But I have proof. Chuck told me you and he had a date a couple days ago. He said you and he went to dinner, then to a dance club."

"That's right." Sarah said.

"C'mon Sarah, stop covering for him! A co-worker of mine was at the same club Chuck was at. She saw Chuck alright, tangled up with a redhead, practically humping her standing up! She didn't recognize her. And she didn't see you." Ellie insisted. "If you don't believe me, here's the text she sent me. And the picture she took and sent to me." Sarah took the offered phone and read the text message, then looked at the picture. As she already knew, it was a picture of Chuck and Carina dancing. It had been taken at a time when Sarah had gone to the restroom. "That's Carina! Chuck tried to feed me some stupid story about you guys bumping into her unplanned, but from the picture, I know he was lying!"

"Ellie, despite what this looks like, Chuck is not cheating on me." Sarah replied, handing the phone back, and steadying herself for the story she was about to tell. Originally they had planned to play the whole thing off as a misunderstanding. Sarah was going to tell Ellie that she and Chuck had been playing a game that it really was Sarah, though wearing a red wig, a kind of role-play. That plan went out the window when Ellie's friend sent the picture. They certainly weren't ready to tell Ellie about their relationship yet; at least not the full nature of it. So they had decided to tell her a partial truth.

"The truth, Ellie, is that Chuck and I were on a date, honest. I've been working on getting Chuck out of his comfort zones little by little and finally managed to get him to a club. Chuck really did believe we just bumped into Carina, so don't blame him for that. I actually had asked her to meet us without telling Chuck."

"Why?"

"Carina's been having a rough time, romance wise, at least that's what Casey's told me. So I thought she could use some fun times with people she knew, without the pressure of a date or whatever. So I concocted a little white lie about her being on a blind date that went bad. You know you're brother, Ellie. He's very sweet and caring. I knew he'd be inclined to try and make her feel better. But I also knew he would be reluctant to do anything that might seem disrespectful to me. This was the best way I could think of. So the three of us ended up dancing a lot together that night. I don't know why your friend didn't see me at all." Sarah said.

"And the picture?" Ellie pressed.

"It was taken at a point in the evening, right before we left, when I had to use the ladies room." Sarah said, truthfully. "And despite what it looks like in the picture, I can tell you that Chuck was very uncomfortable dancing with Carina without me, not to mention the style of dancing. But he didn't really have a choice, that's how Carina and I like to dance."

Ellie sat quietly for a minute, examining Sarah, and replaying her words. Everything she said made sense, in a way. But Ellie still couldn't shake the feeling that there was more going on than what she was being told. Even if what Sarah had said was the whole truth, that still left the other odd behavior she had observed from her brother over the last year. Taking a breath, she decided to let the matter drop, for now. She didn't want to push too hard. Ellie was well aware that she could be a mother hen at times, and she was working to correct that. True, in this case she felt she had legitimate reasons to be acting this way, but she also knew that Chuck and Sarah had a tendency to shut down if she got too demanding.

"Alright Sarah. I'll take your word for it." Ellie said. "I'm sorry to be butting into yours and Chuck's relationship. It's just that he's my brother and you're a really good friend and I think the two of you are great together." Sarah smiled.

"Thanks Ellie. I understand; given the information you had it was a logical conclusion to come to. And I'm happy you feel comfortable enough to come to me with something like this." Sarah said. "Just, next time, talk to Chuck about your concerns first. He probably could have alleviated your worry at lot sooner."

 **Situation Room**

 **White House**

 **Washington D.C.**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1200 Hours**

"I'm afraid the situation is deteriorating rapidly, Mr. President." Surgeon General Jessica Waters said from her spot at the large conference table. "According to the latest estimates from the CDC and WHO, the disease has reached pandemic proportions. The numbers are changing hourly, and of course suffer from incomplete reporting and underreporting by some countries, but the best number we have at this moment is that the disease has stricken approximately one hundred million world-wide. It's already surpassed AIDS as the largest pandemic since the 1918 Influenza. According to all the data, given its rate of progression so far, we're looking at that number quadrupling within a week."

"That fast?" Secretary of State William Owens asked in shock.

"If this had been a naturally occurring epidemic, things wouldn't be so bleak, so soon. But we're facing two issues here that are helping the spread. First, this is not a naturally occurring virus. Second, it was released in such a way that there is not one epicenter to trace it to, which would in turn allow us to quarantine it." Dr. Lansing said. "Instead it was released in several locations simultaneously, based on the evidence. Throw in the speed of modern air transportation and the deviousness of the disease with its long incubation period and its initially innocuous symptoms, and the wonder isn't that it's spread as fast as it has; it's that it hasn't completely overwhelmed us – yet."

"Unfortunately the same cannot be said elsewhere." General Derrick Kelly, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff interjected. "Acting Director Garcia and General Beckman can give you the specifics, but in broad strokes, a number of countries are already fracturing at the seams from the outbreak."

"The Chairman is correct." Acting Director Geraldo Garcia of the CIA said. "Government and health services have collapsed under the weight of the epidemic and its side-affects in Indonesia and several other Asian countries. India and Australia are hanging on by their fingernails, but as the situation continues to deteriorate, it's only a matter of time before they're in the same boat. Europe is in a slightly better position, but again, it's only a matter of time."

"And that's only taking into account the disease." General Beckman said. "The fighting along the border between India and Pakistan is getting worse. We've intercepted communiques on both sides to their Strategic Rocket Forces, ordering them be begin preparations for possible launches."

"Dear God." Secretary Owens said.

"Dear God is right." Acting Director Garcia said. "On top of that you've got Russia jumping to the fray in the Iran-Azerbaijani conflict, the insurgency in Iraq stepping up its efforts, a new Infatada breaking out in Israel, and about a dozen other local conflicts heating up."

"Alright, ladies and gentleman." President Wendell Fertig said finally. "What are you recommendations?"

"Mr. President," Attorney General Marcia Lysock began, exchanging glances with General Kelly and Surgeon General Waters. "In order to have any chance containing the damage from this situation, we need to begin recalling our military forces from their current overseas assignments, federalize the National Guard, and declare martial law. We have got to lock down as much travel as we can. Finally, we're all agreed that we also need to implement our Continuity of Government plan and Operation ARK."

 **Joint CIA/NSA/DEA Base Burbank**

 **AKA "Castle"**

 **Burbank, California**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1400 Hours**

"Good afternoon, team." Major General Diane Beckman, Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and head of the Intersect project greeted what she had lately taken to calling Team Bartowski. "I'm sure you're all wondering why I called this meeting, considering we just debriefed the latest mission earlier this morning."

"Yes ma'am." The members of Team Bartowski said in unison.

"Before we begin, Major Casey, I need you to initiate Protocol Pineapple." She said.

Casey's eyes widened for a moment before moving to the computer console. The other members of Team Bartowski exchanged confused, and slightly alarmed, looks. After typing away on the console for a moment, an alarm sounded briefly, startling those in the room. The screen flickered slightly before stabilizing.

"Done, General. Castle is now locked down and switched over to its backup environmental controls. Enhanced jamming has been initiated. Our connection is now temporarily hidden from the NSA listening stations." Casey said.

"Casey, what's going on-" Chuck began but was cut off by the General.

"Team, let me explain." Beckman said. "Please don't interrupt me until I'm done, I'm afraid we don't have much time. If this connection is off the net for longer than ten minutes, someone will notice.

"I've just been made aware of a very serious situation. I assume you've all been following the news about the Kaana Flu?" All the members of Team Bartowski nodded. "Despite what's being reported, the situation regarding it is much more serious. The numbers being reported have been purposely kept low; the reality is that at least five times that number of cases have been reported. And more disturbing is that I've also just learned that the reports of hyper-aggression were also understated. This new strain seems to attack the higher reasoning centers of the brain, causing the victims to become very violent. Most of the reports of rioting that have been attributed to fear over the flu or in response quarantine attempts have in fact been infected attacking non-infected."

"Jesus," Sarah whispered.

"Thank God it's not in Los Angeles." Chuck said. So far, at least according to all the news reports and intelligence he had seen, the West Coast had not been hit. He knew that Ellie and Devon's hospital had been gearing up in case it got to LA, though. Beckman sighed.

"I'm afraid that's not true, Chuck," She said. This instantly got everyone's attention. Even given her softening attitude toward him, the General almost never addressed Chuck by his first name, using Mr. Bartowski instead. "The CDC confirmed an hour ago that they have received reports of isolated cases in several West Coast cities, including Los Angeles. And it's spreading.

"But as disturbing as all that is, there's more. As you are aware, a week ago Director Marcus and several dozen CIA employees became stricken with the virus. It turns out that Marcus had started playing the same Machiavellian games Graham did. Unbeknownst to me, he had received intelligence about a previously unknown Fulcrum facility – in Indonesia. Without consulting me, he dispatched an agent to investigate. That agent found the facility completely abandoned. But it was on the island of Kaana."

"Shit," Carina said.

"Who was the agent?" Sarah asked.

"Bryce Larkin." Beckman said. "Needless to say, given the location of the facility, combined with the fact that the virus first appeared in a village nearby, the suspicion is that this is NOT a naturally occurring strain. Add the fact that we've got outbreaks in every single location Bryce has been since, plus the sudden appearance of the disease in widely separated regions almost instantaneously where he didn't travel-"

"Fucking bastards unleashed a biological weapon," Casey growled.

"How's Bryce?" Chuck asked.

"I'm afraid he didn't make it." Beckman said. "He entered the hyper-aggression phase of the disease and attacked several people in his apartment building. Killed seven. When police responded, he attacked them as well. Killed one before another shot him. We've been keeping it hushed up for now. During the autopsy, the Medical Examiner, who had apparently been exposed several weeks ago while on holiday, entered the hyper-aggression phase, attacked the CIA agent Marcus had sent to observe Larkin's autopsy and injured him. He was forced to shoot her."

The members of Team Intersect were silent; none of them particularly cared for the dead CIA agent, but none of them had wanted to see him dead.

"There's more," Beckman said, recapturing their attention. "The reason I had Major Casey initiate Pineapple was because I was just informed that the President has ordered Operation ARK put into effect, and martial law."

"What's Operation ARK?" Chuck asked. "There's nothing in the Intersect about it."

"There wouldn't be." Beckman said. "It's a secret program developed during the Cold War in response to a nuclear or biological attack. Most of the details don't matter, but suffice to say, the National Guard is going to be federalized and, along with the military, putting the country on martial law in order to try and stop the spread. Additionally, key government leaders, their families, and anything identified as a strategic national asset, including people, are going to be going into bunkers across the country."

A feeling of dread began to overtake Chuck, Sarah, Casey, and Carina. The phrase strategic national asset was one that they had all heard before; in fact, Graham had used it several months ago to describe the Intersect – and by extension, Chuck.

"I see you sense the problem." Beckman said. "I've been ordered to have you bring Chuck to a bunker in Arizona – whether or not he wants to go. You are to remain sequestered in Castle until a special extraction team can come and get Chuck." Seeing the team members exchange looks, she continued. "That's why I had Major Casey initiate Pineapple. I needed to be able to speak freely too you all. I am now giving you a direct order – one that I will deny if it ever comes to light. I want you to take Chuck, gather his sister and her fiancé, and anyone else you feel necessary, and get the hell out of dodge. Go off grid. I can delay the extraction team for about 12 hours at most. After that, you're on your own, at least for a while. I've sent instructions over a special encrypted channel on how we can contact each other if necessary, but I warn you, utilize only if there is no other option."

"What about the martial law order?" Sarah asked. "Even if you hold off the extraction team, it won't mean anything once the Guard and military get things locked down."

"Luckily for us, probably unluckily for the rest of the country, the President is hesitant to implement full martial law." General Beckman said. "Oh, he's going to do it in the end, but my reading of his posture and his words are that it won't be a nation-wide order for at least another 24-48 hours. The East Coast is another story; it'll be under martial law before the day is out."

"Why General?" Chuck asked quietly, still not believing what he was hearing. "Why warn us, or tell me what's happening? Why tell us to run?"

"A number of reasons, Chuck," Beckman replied, sighing. "First, if Fulcrum unleashed this, they have a plan. My guess is they have a vaccine or cure, and that this is all part of their end game. They're going to make a play for control of the nation and the world. And since we don't know all their operatives, I have to assume they have someone high enough in our government to know about ARK. Which means putting you in that bunker would be tantamount to handing you over to them.

"The second reason is, I owe you, Chuck. When you were first identified as having downloaded the Intersect, I treated you terribly. I treated you like a typical asset – someone who had come into our world through a deliberate action on his or her part. And I judged you through those same lenses. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed at first.

"But you continually surprised me. Even though you had no training, and no desire to be in this world, and often times did things that no trained agent would do, you helped your partners make more inroads against Fulcrum in a year than we have in decades. And yet, I still refused to see it." Beckman paused for a moment before continuing. "A few months ago, I gave an order that I now know was wrong and I'm deeply ashamed off. The replacement Intersect was coming online and we still had no way to remove the Intersect from you. So I, along with Graham, signed a Termination Order on you. I ordered Major Casey to carry out the Termination Order the night the new Intersect was coming online. Sarah was deliberately left out of the loop. It was clear to me that had she known, she would have tried to stop it. Luckily for all of us, those Fulcrum bastards managed to sneak a bomb into the new Intersect and destroyed it and killed Graham. And that Agent Walker received the news in enough time to tell you before Major Casey carried out the order.

"You should know that the Major was very reluctant to carry out the order. He argued against it on several occasions. He said that you had served your country honorably and deserved to be treated better. He was right.

"I'm sure you noticed that I've been a bit more, let's say, accommodating, towards you lately, Chuck. That's because I decided I needed to take a new approach. And to be honest, I knew that eventually I would have to own up to the decision I had made earlier. So I was trying to make amends. That's one of the reasons I didn't intervene when it became clear that you and Agent Walker had formed an emotional attachment. And why I didn't intervene when it became clear that there was also something going on amongst the both of you and Agent Miller."

"What?" Chuck asked.

"Come now, Chuck. I've known there was something between you and Sarah since day one, even if you didn't realize it yourselves or, if you did, act on it. And there have been rumors over the years about Agent Walker and Agent Miller. And then Agent Miller suddenly starts showing up in Los Angeles after the Peyman mission? And then you all feed me and Director Marcus that cock-and-bull story about needing a DEA agent assigned to the team long-term? It doesn't take a genius to make that connection." Beckman answered, rolling her eyes slightly. "Besides, with the deteriorating situation with the Kaana Flu, it made sense to add some additional security to the team. The list of personnel I can trust is extremely short; Agent Miller, despite her reputation, was at the top of that list."

"Ma'am…I…I don't know what to say." Sarah said.

"Nothing to say, Agent Walker. The bottom line is this team, despite its bizarre makeup and equally bizarre interpersonal relationships, is one of the best I and the United States government have." Beckman said. "I'd be a fool to try and break up something that works so well, even if it is very unorthodox. But there is one more thing."

"Yes ma'am?" Casey said.

"John, forgive me for being blunt, especially in front of your teammates, as I'm sure they know nothing about this, but time is short. John, Kathy's living in Los Angeles. She has a daughter, named Alex." Beckman said. "She married an accountant, but has been divorced for the last four years. Alex wasn't his biological child. Her real father was thought to have been killed in El Salvador." Casey, who had at first been wondering where the General was going with the conversation at first let out a gasp, his eyes widening.

"I…I have a daughter?" he finally said.

"Yes John." Beckman responded. "Kathy found out she was pregnant shortly before you were reported dead and assumed your current identity. Apparently she had decided not to tell you until your deployment was over, she didn't want you to be distracted."

"How long?" Casey said, his voice taking on an edge that the others on Team Intersect had rarely heard directed at anyone except Fulcrum agents. "How long have you known?" Beckman closed her eyes and let out a breath before responding.

"That you had a daughter? Personally, not long. Though the NSA has apparently known since your recruitment. I just found out about it a few weeks ago. That she and your former fiancé were living in Los Angeles, I only just found out a few days ago. When things began to fall into place with the seriousness of the Kaana Flu, and the possibility of having to order the team off the grid started becoming more and more likely, I decided to look into your family, to see if there was a way you or I could help them." Beckman said. "I'm sending you their address now. John, I understand that you'll want to try and bring them out with you. But you'll have to move fast. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold off the extraction team, not to mention this Kaana bug is spreading fast. Top priority has to be getting Chuck somewhere safe, away from Kaana and away from Fulcrum." A second later, Beckman killed the connection. Chuck, Sarah, and Carina looked at one another and then turned to Casey.

"Casey-" Sarah began to speak, before being interrupted by him.

"Change of plans." Casey said softly. "I have to try and get them to go with us. I can't leave them behind."

"We know, big guy." Chuck said. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if you got me and my family safe without at least trying to get yours safe too."

"So how do we do this?" Carina said. "From what the General said, we don't have a lot of time. Twelve hours max. Our original plan fits within the timeframe, but the original plan didn't include Casey's family."

"We should still be good." Sarah said. "I erred on the side of caution as far as transportation arrangements; what little public transportation we're going to use should be adequate, and the private transportation will handle two extra people. It'll be tight but we can do it."

"I don't think Casey should go after them by himself." Chuck said. He held up his hand to forestall the objections he knew would be coming from the others. "Look, if this thing is here already, things may go to hell pretty quick. Casey's going to need someone to watch his back. One of us needs to go with him." The rest of Team Intersect exchanged looks, clearly not happy with what Chuck was proposing, each for their own reasons. Finally, Carina spoke.

"I don't like the idea of being separated from you two, but you're right. I'll go with him." Carina said. Now it was Carina's turn to raise her hands to forestall objections. "Your sister, her fiancé, Morgan, and Anna don't know me nearly as well as Sarah, so you and she will have a better chance of getting them to listen and come along. Plus, I'd like to hold off on being in the sights of your sister for a little while longer what with the multiple cans of worms we're going to be opening up."

"Carina, you don't" Casey started to say, but was cut off.

"Stuff it, Casey." Carina said. "I'm going and that's it."

"Okay. I don't like it, and not just because of how Chuck and I feel about Carina, but we don't have a choice. Chuck and Carina are right, you need back up. Our pre-packed evade bags are in the Armory. It's not enough for the whole plan, but it will get us through the next three days if needed. Hopefully we'll get to the first rally point before that." Sarah said. "Chuck and I will take our stuff, plus the stuff we packed for Ellie, Devon, Morgan and Anna and put it in the SUV. Then we'll grab Morgan and Anna from upstairs. Are Ellie and Devon at home, Chuck?"

"Yeah, they don't have a shift until later tonight." Chuck said.

"Good." Sarah said. "That will make this easier. We'll collect them and head out of town for the first rally point. Casey, Carina, go get Casey's family. You'll have to pack a bag for each of them. There's some spare supplies here you can grab, but as far as civilian clothes, you'll have to get that at their house."

"One last thing." Casey said. "You know it's very possible the extraction team might prevent us all from making the first rally point. So we stick to the plan. You are to wait NO LONGER than three hours for us, unless I make contact via the secure burners, and then ONLY in the code we worked out. Otherwise, get the hell out of there and proceed with the plan."

The others nodded their agreement and all of them stood up. First Sarah and then Chuck pulled Casey into a friendly hug, wishing him luck. Casey, clearly uncomfortable, then excused himself to get ready to leave, leaving Carina, Sarah, and Chuck alone.

"You watch you back." Sarah said, pulling Carina to her before kissing her for perhaps a minute before releasing her. "Don't do anything stupid, like getting killed. Not after we've found what we've been looking for since The Farm."

"That goes ditto from me." Chuck said, stepping up to Carina and pulling her into another kiss. A moment later, he released her. "If anything happened to you, I don't think Sarah or I would forgive ourselves."

"Don't worry, I'll make it back to both of you." Carina said. "Meanwhile you watch out for each other. I couldn't stand to lose either one of you either."


	10. Part 2 Chapter 2

_**Author's Note:**_ _Well, here we go. Starting in this chapter, we're going start getting to the "meat" of the plot. This chapter deals exclusively with Chuck and Sarah's part of the evac mission. Casey and Carina's adventure rescuing Casey's ex-Fiancée and daughter will be told in another chapter. Be warned that the violence will begin to become more pronounced going forward. On effect of this is that we are going to see some characters forced to do things that they normally wouldn't have done in canon. One other change or rather, omission, from cannon is that I've effectively ignored the existence of Morgan's mom. Nothing against the character, but I just couldn't figure a way to include her in a meaningful way in the story and still have Morgan willingly go with Chuck and Sarah._

 _By the way, this is my longest chapter yet, as you can see. Originally it was going to be much shorter, but I had a hard time coming to a stopping point. Hopefully it's not too overwhelming._

 **Part II:** **Chapter ****2**

 **Sales Floor**

 **Buymore**

 **Burbank, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1445 Hours**

Morgan Grimes tore his gaze away from the Nerd Herd desk, where he had been staring at the pleasant form of his girlfriend, Anna Wu, when he heard Chuck call a greeting to him from behind.

"Hey Chuck, what's up?" Morgan asked. "I thought today was your day off."

"Hey buddy." Chuck responded, trying to maintain his normal tone of cheerfulness. After the briefing had broken up, he and Sarah had quickly loaded the necessary supplies into one of the two SUVs that had recently been allocated to Team Bartowski. After Sarah had done a quick sweep of the car to deactivate any tracking and surveillance devices, the two had driven it to back of the store, just outside the loading dock area. After a brief discussion, the duo decided that Chuck should approach Morgan and Anna and get them out back while Sarah watched their backs, just in case. "Did you and Anna have your break yet?"

"No man, it's been non-stop for the last two hours." Morgan said. "It just started letting up." Chuck smiled; ever since Morgan and Anna had started dating, the two of them had been taking their breaks together.

"See if she can take it now." Chuck said. "I need to talk to the two you. It's kind of important."

"Say no more man." Morgan said and then went over to the Nerd Herd desk. He spoke to Anna, who in turn said something to Lester. A moment later Morgan and Anna made their way over to Chuck.

"What's up Chuck?" Anna asked.

"Uh, can we talk in back? It's sensitive." Chuck said. Anna and Morgan exchanged a look; then nodded. Then they began following Chuck off the sales floor and towards the back. As they walked, both Anna and Morgan became lost in their own thoughts.

 _"Oh man, this is it."_ Morgan thought, somewhat dejectedly. _"Chuck's going to tell us that he and Sarah are getting married. Then he's going to leave the Buymore and move away and that'll be the end of our friendship."_ Morgan had been expecting something like that ever since Sarah came into Chuck's life. He was happy for his friend, he really was; he'd have been a real jerk not to see how happy Sarah made him. She was the only one who had managed to pull Chuck out of his complete funk since college. And truth be told, it had been seeing Chuck and Sarah that had led him to begin the slow process of growing up himself. But he also knew that Chuck and Sarah were both capable of more than they were currently doing in their lives; both were destined for better things than the Buymore and selling frozen yogurt at Orange Orange. So he had been dreading when the two of them made the final commitment to each other; he knew it would be only a matter of time before they would move on.

 _"Morgan's spiraling."_ Anna thought to herself, looking at her boyfriend. Like Morgan, she too suspected that Chuck and Sarah's desire to talk to them was about their relationship. _"Maybe Chuck finally pulled his head out of his ass and proposed. If he did, that would be awesome. Of course, if it is, I'm going to have to do some damage control with Morgan. I love him to death but he gets worked up too easily and seems to always look at the down side of everything."_

Anna was brought out of her thoughts suddenly, as Chuck continued past the break room, where she had naturally assumed he was taking them, and continued towards the loading docks. Exchanging a glance with Morgan, she saw that he too had been thinking the same thing.

 _"What on earth is going on?"_ Anna thought. Her confusion increased as Chuck motioned them to follow him as he exited the building. Once Anna and Morgan stepped through the door, they saw Sarah standing outside next to a large black SUV, its passenger side back door open.

"Get in the SUV guys." Chuck said, walking over to the vehicle.

"But Chuck, we're still on the clock." Morgan protested.

"I know little buddy." Chuck replied. "But what I need to talk to you about can't be done here. Please trust me." Morgan and Anna looked at one another, and then walked over to the SUV and got in. The pair watched as Sarah and Chuck then got in, with Sarah behind the steering wheel.

"Chuck man, what's going on?" Morgan asked, as Sarah started the SUV and drove away from the loading dock at a faster than normal pace. Chuck held up his finger, demonstrating that he wanted Morgan to wait one more minute. He quickly opened the small laptop computer he had carried with him and began typing. After a moment he heard a beep and sighed, closing the laptop.

"There. Now we can talk. I spoofed the tracking and surveillance systems in the car so the NSA and CIA won't know we're on the move." Chuck said to Sarah.

"NSA? CIA? Surveillance?" Anna asked, not quite sure she had heard right.

"Uh, yeah. About that." Chuck said. "It's time you guys heard about my secret. I'll give you the abbreviated version for now; we can go into the longer version once we're somewhere safe. Morgan, Anna, I'm a spy."

 **Bartowski Residence  
**

 **Echo Park**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1530 Hours**

"Morgan, enough." Sarah said exasperatedly as she parked the SUV in front of the apartment complex where Chuck and his sister lived. For the last forty-five minutes since leaving the Buymore, Morgan had been peppering Chuck and Sarah with questions concerning their declaration that they, along with Casey, were spies. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, and there's a lot of information you'd like to know, but like Chuck explained, we don't have time for the full story right now. We need to get Ellie and Devon and get moving. We promise, once we're somewhere safer we'll give you all the details." Morgan looked as though he wanted to argue, but a quick squeeze of his hand from Anna stopped him.

"Morgan, I know you're excited and worked up." Anna said to him. "And that you want answers; trust me, I want them too. But Sarah's right, now is not the time."

"Okay, I can wait, I guess." Morgan said. "It's just that it's a bit unbelievable. I mean, my best friend – a spy!" Chuck grinned; truth be told he had expected this kind of reaction from Morgan.

"Trust me little buddy, some days I have a hard time believing it myself." Chuck said, then turned to Sarah. "How do you want to do this? Do we take Morgan and Anna in with us, or what?" Sarah sat for a moment, thinking silently.

"Let them stay in the SUV." Sarah said. "It's going to be hard enough getting Ellie and Deven out of there without going into a long-winded explanation. If Morgan and Anna are there, it might be more difficult." Chuck nodded and turned to Morgan and Anna.

"Wait here guys. We shouldn't be too long." With that, he and Sarah exited the SUV and made their way into the complex.

"You took care of the surveillance?" Sarah asked.

"Yep." Chuck said. Over the last several weeks he had worked with Casey to find a way to spoof the video and audio surveillance at the complex for just such an emergency as this. Currently the surveillance was recording saved footage taken over the course of several days earlier. He had initiated it the same he had spoofed the tracking and surveillance in the SUV. It would not work for long of course, but it would be long enough. A moment later, the pair had reached the door to the apartment. Trying the door, they found it locked. Chuck took out his key and unlocked the door. A moment later they hand entered the apartment and closed the door.

"Ellie! Devon!" Chuck shouted. When no one responded, Chuck and Sarah began searching the apartment. Sarah found a note on the dining table.

"Chuck – over here." Sarah said, handing him the note.

 _Chuck – Devon and I were called into work. Apparently this flu is hitting_ harder _than thought. They need all hands on deck. Don't know how late we'll be working. Love, Ellie._

"Oh shit." Chuck said, a feeling of dread beginning to overtake him.

 **Team Intersect SUV #1**

 **En-route to West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1545 Hours**

"Let's go over this one more time." Sarah said to Chuck, Morgan and Anna. "When we get to West Side, everyone puts their masks and gloves on. Morgan, Anna, you stay in the SUV with the doors locked. Don't open it for anyone except us. Understood?"

"Yeah, Sarah, we got it. Sheesh." Morgan said, a little grumpily. He had wanted to go into the hospital with them and help find Ellie and Devon but had been shot down.

"Morgan, buddy, this is serious." Chuck said. "This flu is dangerous – that's why the government wants to put me in a bunker. So please, just stay in the car where it's safe."

"Don't worry Chuck, I'll make sure he stays put." Anna said. "You just be careful. Hospitals are illness factories under the best of circumstances."

"We will." Sarah said. "Anna, have you ever fired a gun?"

"Yeah, when I was younger. One of my dad's bodyguard's showed me how to shoot." Anna replied.

"Okay then. When we head into the hospital, there's a spare side arm under the back seat." Sarah said. "Use it ONLY in an emergency. And Morgan, that's Anna, not you."

"What? Why not? C'mon I'm an ace marksman!"

"Call of Duty doesn't count." Sarah said. "You've had no training with real guns. I promise, once we get somewhere safe I'll teach you what you need to know, just in case. But until then, we don't need anyone accidently hurt or the SUV getting disabled due to a wild shot."

"Better listen to her, Morgan." Chuck said, grinning. "She's in Bad-Ass Enforcer mission mode."

"Ok. But how come you get a gun?" Morgan asked.

"First of all, it's not a gun." Chuck said. "It's a tranq gun – it shoots tranquilizer darts. Second of all, I've been trained to use it."

"Plus, if it comes to it, he has gotten some basic training from me and Casey on firearms." Sarah said. "Even though he hates them, the nature of our business means that he has to be at least familiar with them. Which reminds me, Chuck – my backup gun is in the glove box in holster. I want you to carry it also."

"But Sarah-" Chuck began.

"No. No buts. We have no idea if the tranq darts will work on an infected in the homicidal stage, so you need to have a backup." Sarah said, then grabbed his hand. "Please Chuck. This is going to be a big enough risk going to the hospital as it is." Chuck looked at her, her beautiful blue eyes pleading with him.

"Ok." He said, opening the glove box and pulling out the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield that was there. He clipped the holster to his belt at his back and covered it. In keeping with the plan, he had quickly changed his clothes at the apartment, now dress more like Sarah in semi-professional attire. The plan was that once they got to the hospital they would use fake FBI credentials to enter the hospital.

"Here we go." Sarah said as she pulled into the Hospital parking lot. The scene before them was pandemonium. There were police cars, ambulances, and other vehicles everywhere. It was clear the hospital was very busy. Exiting the car, Chuck and Sarah started making their way towards the Emergency Room entrance. They were stopped by a LAPD police sergeant, who was also wearing a medical mask.

"I'm sorry but the hospital is not taking any more patients." He said, his voice muffled.

"FBI." Sarah said, holding up her credentials while Chuck did the same. "We're here to interview a witness." The cop looked over the badges, then at Chuck and Sarah for a moment.

"Ok, go on through." He said. They were just about to walk in when suddenly gunfire and screaming rang out from inside.

 **Emergency Room**

 **West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1530 to 1545 Hours**

Dr. Ellie Bartowski sighed as she watched the hospital gurney being wheeled away. The occupant, a nine year old little girl, had been brought in an hour earlier by her parents, suffering from respiratory distress. She had been ill for several days; initially her parents had assumed she had been suffering from a severe cold, until that morning when she registered a temperature of 103 degrees, and they noticed sores forming around her mouth and nose. There was no doubt in Ellie's mind that she was ill with the new flu strain, the Kaana flu.

Ellie and Devon had been called into the hospital several hours earlier; as the administration had expected and warned the staff, it had been only a matter of time before cases of the Kaana flu had occurred in Los Angeles. In fact, several had been reported throughout the city over the last three days. But they had seemed to be isolated cases, and never more than one or two in a particular area. That had changed this morning. West Side had seen a four-fold increase in Emergency Room visits over the last twenty-four hours, with at least a quarter of those patients exhibiting symptoms indicative of the Kaana Flu. So the administration had called all hands on deck. They were determined to get a handle on things, to prove that a well-run hospital could prevent the disaster being seen in other parts of the world and on the East Coast.

Those patients who they had confirmed had the Flu were being quarantined in a special section of the hospital. The LAPD had dispatched several dozen officers to help maintain order. Ellie wasn't sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, given how busy and crowded the hospital had become, she was glad they were there. She had seen in the past what happened when a large number of people, all of whom were already emotionally charged at being sick or injured, were forced to wait to be treated. Tempers would flare and eventually someone would get out of hand. On the other hand, she was concerned about the almost Draconian measures she had seen and overheard the officers talking about. For one thing, these were sick people – they needed to be treated and helped, not treated like criminals in need of guarding. For another, she felt like there was an underlining air of panic among the cops and the city officials who had ordered them there, panic that was unnecessary. Ellie was well aware of the rumors and stories about Kaana flu victims becoming violent, but she herself didn't really believe it was as serious as had been rumored and reported. Despite the seriousness of the pandemic, she believed that most of the violence attributed to victims of the Flu were really more caused by panic and criminal elements taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble. Oh she didn't completely discount the reports – after all, she knew perfectly well that some diseases could in fact have profound psychological effects on a person's behavior. But she didn't think it was nearly as bad as was being portrayed.

"Dr.! I have another priority patient over here!" a nurse called out, bringing her out of her thoughts. She rushed over to another exam room, where a middle-aged nurse was standing. The patient was a female EMT who was holding a bloodied arm.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We were responding to a traffic accident with multiple casualties." the EMT said, wincing in pain. "We had just arrived on the scene and were checking on the victims when one of them just started going crazy. She attacked my partner and when I tried to pull her off him, she bit my forearm and wouldn't let go. It was insane. It took three LAPD officers to subdue her." Ellie examined the wound; sure enough, it looked like someone had bitten a chunk of the forearm off.

"Clean the wound; she's going to need stiches." Ellie said. "And run a blood panel on her, just in-"

Ellie's sentence was cut off as distant shouting was heard. A moment later, screams were heard, followed by a single gunshot, which caused panic in the ER. A second later a voice was heard over the radio of the nearest LAPD officer.

"We have a containment breach! Multiple infected have broken out of quarantine and are moving through the hospital. All units initiate-" but the voice was drowned out the interior door to the ER burst open and two individuals, their faces twisted with rage, immediately launched themselves at the people closest to them. The three LAPD officers in the ER immediately moved toward the commotion. Just as they reached them, more screams suddenly erupted from in the ER waiting area. Ellie turned just in time to see one of the waiting patients attack another patient near him. A second later, the ER was a mass of panic with patients and staff scrambling to get out of the way of the fights, only to crash into others attempting to do the same, causing confusion and more panic. Ellie watched in horror as one of the infected that had entered the ER grabbed a nurse by the throat and slammed her against the way, hard, all the while spewing obscenities at her. One of the police officers pulled a Taser from its holster and fired it at the man, causing him to drop the nurse to the floor. But though the Taser momentarily seemed to have an effect, it was over in an instant. She watched as the patient charged at the officer and knocked him to the ground and began struggling with him. The officer fought to get the man off and seemed to be on the verge on getting the upper hand when several more people suddenly entered the ER. Two of them locked in on the struggle between the cop and the patient and jumped into the fray, overwhelming the cop. One of the other cops, seeing what was happening drew his service weapon and fired it at one of the men savaging his partner, killing him.

"Ellie!" Devon shouted, rushing over to her. He had been on the other side of the ER when things had started and had pushed his way over to her. "Get down, babe!" He pushed her to floor so she was behind the exam table, then reached out and grabbed the EMT pushing her to the floor before joining them.

"Devon, what the hell is going on?" Ellie asked.

"I don't know babe. I heard the radio transmission on one of the cops' radios, I guess we were wrong about the reports of violence from people with the flu. I saw one of them bite a technician in the throat – she tore it completely out."

"What are we going to do?" Ellie asked as more shots rang out amongst the screams.

"I don't know." Devon said. "There's too many people rushing around to try and get out of here, we'll just end up trampled. Hopefully the cops will be able to get a handle on things."

 **Emergency Room**

 **West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1546 hours**

Less than thirty seconds after hearing the screams and shots, Chuck, Sarah, and the officer at the door to the ER had rushed in and stopped, momentarily stunned. The ER was complete chaos with patients and staff rushing about and screaming.

"We need help!" a nurse shouted running up to them. "There's infected in here! They're attacking people! Two of the cops on duty in here are already down!" The LAPD sergeant immediately began making his way into the melee.

"Where's Dr. Bartowski and Woodcombe?" Sarah asked the nurse.

"I'm not sure. Dr. Bartowski was in exam room 3 and Dr. Woodcombe in exam room 8, but that was before everything went to hell." The nurse responded.

"Where are those rooms?" Chuck asked. The nurse pointed in two opposite directions. Chuck and Sarah exchanged a look, then as if by telepathic agreement, started making their way towards exam room 8, which was the closest.

"We don't have time to separate infected from not infected." Sarah said. "Tranq anyone who gets in the way." Chuck nodded grimly. Together they moved quickly but carefully towards the exam room. They had gotten halfway there without incident, despite the madness going on around them, when they encountered their first problem.

A patient, about thirty years of age, clearly suffering from Kaana had taken notice of them and rushed at them. Chuck turned slightly to fire his tranq gun, the dart impacting him dead center in the chest. Unlike previous times Chuck had seen the tranq in action, the patient did not immediately collapse. Instead he continued his charge towards them, showing little sign of slowing. Chuck fired twice more before the patient finally collapsed in a heap barely two feet from them.

"Dammit." Sarah said. She had been hoping the trang gun would be able to put them down quickly. But if it took three darts, than this was going to get dangerous. "New plan. Any new targets get 1 dart. If that one doesn't put them down, get out of the way and I'll take them." Chuck nodded, his color paling slightly; he too had hoped they could get through this without having to use deadly force.

They managed to reach Exam Room 3 with no other issues, but when they got there they saw that it was empty. Frantically Chuck began looking around, trying to see if Ellie and Devon were somewhere else. It was a minute before he saw them, huddled in Exam Room 8. He nudged Sarah and pointed. Sarah looked over to where he was pointing and cursed their continue bad luck. The majority of infected were between them and Exam Room 8 – it was going to be impossible to sneak passed them. There were now about a dozen of them, along with the bodies of nine dead victims and several others who were in the process of being killed. She knew what they were going to have to do.

"Chuck, look at me." She said. Chuck turned to look at her and wished he hadn't – he knew that look. It was the look that she always had when she was going to tell him that they had to do something he wouldn't like. Given the situation, he had a pretty good idea what it was going to be. "There's too many of them between us and Ellie and Devon. They'd never be able to make it too us, and we can't get by without attracting the infected. It would take too many tranqs and too much time to clear a path. If we're going to get Ellie and Devon out of here, we're going to have shoot our way to them. Do you understand?" Chuck swallowed, unable to speak for a second, his mind racing. He had come a long way in the last year, thanks to Sarah, Casey and Carina. He was no longer the scared naïve nerd he had been and had gone through this scenario dozens of time in training. So thought of it happening for real didn't freeze him with fear like it would have when he first got the Intersect. But it would still be the first time, for real, that he was in this situation. And it was definitely something he didn't want to do.

"I know." Chuck said sadly. Sarah's heart almost broke as she watched the emotions playing across his face. She had hoped that they never would be in the position where she had to ask him to take a life, but fate had other plans. "I don't like it, but I get it. It has to be done."

"I'll go first." Sarah said. "I'll try to keep you from having to do it, but I need you to be ready, just in case. If we're going to survive this, I need you to have my back. I know you can do this." Chuck nodded and put the tranq gun back into its holster and pulled the Smith and Wesson MP Shield from the holster at the small of his back. He checked to make sure the magazine was inserted, the safety was off, and racked the slide.

"I'm ready." He said, trying to sound more confident that he felt.

"I love you." Sarah said, giving him a quick kiss. "Let's go."

 **Emergency Room**

 **Exam Room 3**

 **West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1548 Hours**

"Is that Chuck and Sarah?" Devon asked, pointing to the direction of Exam Room 8. Ellie peaked around the corner of the exam table and gasped. Sure enough, her brother and his girlfriend were indeed in Exam Room 8.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Ellie said, then noticing the guns in both Sarah and Chuck's hands, she continued "And what the hell are they doing with _guns_?!" Before Devon could attempt to respond, they watched as first Sarah, then Chuck began moving towards the exam room they were hiding in. Ellie's eyes widened as she watched Sarah bring up her gun and begin shooting the infected patients that were between them and the exam room. _"This can't be happening!"_ Ellie thought. _"Why do they have guns?! Where did Sarah learn to shoot?!"_

Time seemed to slow as she continued to watch Chuck and Sarah make their way towards them. It seemed like an eternity before the pair had reached a position almost outside the door of the examine room. Ellie was about to open her mouth to call to them when things got even more hectic. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shape leap at Sarah, knocking her to the ground. She watched in horror as the figure, which she could clearly now see as an infected, began attacking Sarah.

 **Emergency Room**

 **Exam Room 3**

 **West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1549 Hours**

Chuck's eyes widened as he saw Sarah go sprawling to the ground, having been knocked down by the impact of the attacking infected, her gun coming loose from her hand and landing a few feet away. Momentarily stunned, he watched as Sarah began struggling with the infected. As usual, Sarah's training allowed her to recover quickly from the suddenness of the impact, and was almost immediately able to begin defending herself from the onslaught. The problem, however, was two-fold. First, the infected had about eighty pounds on her and combined with her position of being knocked to the floor, did not give her much room to maneuver. Second, in the homicidal psychotic state of the late infection, he seemed to not care about the blows she was delivering to him. Each time she would land something that knocked him back slightly or momentarily stunned him, he would immediately come back to the attack. Then, Chuck saw another infected appear and make for where Sarah and the other infected was struggling.

Chuck swallowed hard. He knew if he didn't do something, Sarah would probably be overwhelmed and infected or killed. Shakily, he raised his gun, all the while his thoughts racing as he tried to calm himself and remember the training Sarah, Casey and Carina had given him. Lining up at the approaching infected, he pulled the trigger. His first shot missed completely. Mentally cursing, he quickly fell into the two handed grip Casey had drilled into him and fired again. This time his shot hit the oncoming infected dead center, causing it to stumble, wounded. Almost automatically Chuck pulled the trigger again, his training now taking over, sending another round into it, and finally causing it to fall to the ground.

Chuck fought back the wave of nausea and vomit that threatened to engulf him. _"Not now. Sarah's still in danger!"_ he screamed to himself mentally. He turned to where Sarah and the other infected were still struggling, bringing his gun back up and trying to line up a clear shot. But it was no good; both Sarah and the infected were moving too much, and if he tried to fire, he might hit her. Thinking quickly he rushed forward, using the pistol as a club, swinging it towards the side of the head of the infected. It connected with a crack, and sent the infected sprawling off of Sarah to the side.

Regaining her feet, Sarah grabbed her gun and turned back to Chuck, when she saw the infected, blood now pouring from a wound to its head, begin to get back to its feet. Without hesitation she brought her gun up and fired, hitting it in the head. Seeing it go down, and more importantly, stay down this time, she made her way back to Chuck.

" _I've got to get him out of here fast."_ She thought. He was pale, clearly in the beginning stages of the shock that set in after someone kills for the first time. Grabbing him by the arm, she spoke quickly. "Chuck, listen to me. It's going to be ok. You need to keep it together for a few more minutes, until we can get Ellie and Devon out of here and back to the car. I still need you." Chuck looked at here, swallowed and nodded.

"Right." Chuck said. The two partners turned back towards where Ellie and Devon were taking cover. Both doctors were staring at the pair, their eyes wide. Sarah was unable to see their mouths because of the protective masks, part of the hospital's safety protocols, but she was sure that if she could, she would see that both had their mouths hanging open in shock. Quickly they made their way over to them.

"Chuck? Sarah?" Ellie asked in a quiet, yet panicked voice. "What – what's going on? Where did you get those guns? Why did you-" Sarah held up her hand to stop Ellie.

"Ellie, I'm sorry to be brusque, but we don't have time for questions right now. We need to get out of here. I promise, Chuck and I will explain everything as soon as we're all safe." Ellie looked a Sarah unsure of what to do.

"Sis, please. You're not safe here. Neither is Devon. You need to come with us." Chuck added. Ellie looked at Chuck, then at Devon. Devon, his face mirroring the confusion and fear in Ellie's, nevertheless nodded to her.

"Babe, they're right." He said. Ellie turned back to Chuck and Sarah.

"Alright." She said. "But you two owe me an explanation soon!"

 **Team Intersect SUV #1**

 **Outside West Side Medical Center**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1530-1551 Hours**

Anna and Morgan watched as Chuck and Sarah approached the main entrance to hospital. After a moment of speaking with the police officer at the door, the pair suddenly became more alert. Anna's eyes widened as she saw Sarah, Chuck and the police officer suddenly rush into the hospital.

"Something bad is happening." Anna said. Morgan nodded, though he was in reality only half paying attention. His mind was still reeling from the brief explanation and revelations he had received from Chuck on the ride first to Chuck's apartment and then to the hospital.

 _"I still can't believe it – my best friend, a spy!"_ he thought to himself. _"And Sarah, Casey and Carina too. And they're running the operation out of the Buymore!"_ Morgan couldn't help but be impressed. Being a nerd, he had always had an affinity for spy games, movies, etc. And here he was, living a real-life version. But as excited as he was, he was also filled with dread. While Sarah and Chuck had not explained everything that was going on in detail, what they had told him and Anna, aside from the general spy revelation, was terrifying. _"A bio-terror weapon spreading throughout the globe? And the government doesn't think they can stop it? So they're retreating to bunkers and want to toss my best buddy in there against his will?!"_

"Morgan, you're starting to freak out again." Anna said, reading the signs on his face. "You need to calm down." Morgan took a couple of deep breaths and looked at his girlfriend. He knew she was right; from what Chuck and Sarah had told them, it was going to take all their focus to survive this and get to their destination. He wouldn't let his friend down.

"You're right as always, Anna." Morgan said, giving her a peck on the lips. "I don't know what I'd do without-" Morgan's sentence was interrupted by commotion coming from the entrance to the hospital. Both his and Anna's eyes widened as they say about a dozen people coming screaming out of the hospital, clearly panicked. Some were covered in blood, clearly injured. A few seconds later, it became more frightening when two people exited the hospital and chased down one of the panicked crowd, a middle-aged woman, and began savaging her.

"Oh my God." Anna whispered, as one of the attackers ripped a large chunk out of the woman's neck. Reaching under the seat, Anna grabbed the spare gun that Sarah had said was under there.

"Anna, what are you doing?!" Morgan asked, watching her insert the magazine and rack the slide.

"I got a bad feeling about this, Morgan." She said. "I just want to be ready, just in case." They continued to watch as the infected patients attacked three more bystanders, killing one while two others managed to escape, though clearly injured. The infected then turned their attention to a fourth victim who began running towards the SUV. "Oh, shit."

The running man reached the SUV, the infected still on his tail and closing fast. He tried to open the door and when it didn't, he began pounding on it.

"Please! Help me! Let me in!" he begged. "They're going to kill me!" Morgan reached for the button to unlock the door.

"Morgan, no!" she shouted, slapping his hand away.

"But Anna, they're going to kill him. We have to let him in!" Morgan said excitedly.

"No. Remember what Sarah said. We can't open the door for anyone." Anna said. "What if he's already been infected? He was in the hospital, without that safety mask that Chuck and Sarah were wearing."

"But-" Morgan began, only to be interrupted by a scream as the infected reached the man and pulled him away from the SUV. Within a minutes, he was dead. Anna watch as the two infected finished him off and turned toward the SUV. Just as they were about move towards it, their attention was drawn to the hospital entrance. Coming out of the doors, running as fast as they could, were Chuck, Sarah, Devon, and Ellie. The two infected immediately changed direction and started running towards the group. When they were about eight feet away, Sarah brought up her gun and fired several shots, dropping each one to the ground. About thirty seconds later the group was almost to the SUV.

"Morgan, open the doors!" Anna said. Morgan quickly did as he was told, the doors unlocking just as the group made it to the car. A moment later Chuck was pushing Ellie and Devon into the back before closing the door and running around to the passenger side and getting in. Sarah jumped into the driver's side and slammed her door. A moment later, she started the engine, put it in drive and floored the accelerator.


	11. Part 2 Chapter 3

_Author's Note:_ _Thanks once again to everyone for their kind reviews. As promised, this chapter will deal with Casey and Carina's mission to get Casey's ex-fiancée and daughter, as well as highlight some other things going on in LA. Please note there are some character deaths towards the end of this chapter, so be forewarned. None of the main characters (Chuck, Sarah, Carina, Casey) but definitely somewhat major and popular supporting characters from the show (though not Ellie, Devon, Morgan or Anna. Or Casey's family)._

 **Part 2 Chapter 3**

 **Team Intersect SUV #2**

 **En Route to the home of Kathleen McHugh**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1545 hours**

"Dammit." Casey cursed as he came upon the multi-car accident that was blocking the highway. Making a quick scan, he saw that the shoulder was clear down to the next exit. "Hang on." A moment later he moved over to the shoulder and raced towards the off ramp. In the passenger seat next to him, Carina grimaced as an irate driver honked a horn at them, Casey having cut him off.

"So Casey, how come you never mentioned you used to be engaged?" Carina asked.

"Because unlike some people on this team, I don't feel the need share every detail of my life and my lady feelings." Casey said in his usual gruff manor. But while his voice was typical Casey, his face wasn't. Looking at him, Carina was able to see a myriad of emotions cross his face. "In all honesty, Miller, it's not something I like to think about. Kathleen was the love of my life. But I was young and idealistic. When they told me I'd have to cut all ties to my former life I wasn't exactly thrilled, but I thought I'd be able to make a real difference. For a while I was able to delude myself. But after a few years the pain of giving her up came back full force. But it was too late. I was in too deep, and to be fair, I was in a position to do a lot of good. But I was also ashamed of what I'd done to her. So it was easier to bury it."

"So you didn't know she was pregnant?"

"No." Casey replied. "To be honest, I'm not sure what I would have done if I'd known. I like to think now that I would have turned down their offer and married her. But I just don't know."

"Well, don't worry. We'll get them out. Then maybe you can have a second chance." Carina said.

"Maybe. But she's liable to want nothing to do with me." Casey said. "I'm not even sure short of kidnapping her that she'll go along with us." Carina nodded. This was definitely going to be a complicated situation.

"How do you think things are going on Chuck and Sarah's end?" Carina asked. Casey grunted in amusement.

"It's probably going to be a bigger circus than our end." Casey said, chuckling. "Between Grimes and Ellie, I think they're going to have their hands full. Grimes is going to be a bouncing ball of energy once he finds out what's going on. He'll think it's cool and pester them for every detail he can. Ellie's liable to have kittens; the only way it could get worse is if you were along for the ride and your relationship with Bartowski and Walker came out. As it is I'm not looking forward when that little detail gets out."

Carina nodded in agreement. It was going to bad enough when Chuck's sister found out about the spy business, not to mention what was going to have to happen now between the outbreak and the government's plans. But when she found out about the true nature of Carina's relationship vis-à-vis Chuck and Sarah the shit was literally going to hit the fan.

 _"I just hope Morgan or Devon don't say anything stupid when they find out."_ Carina thought. _"If Devon even utters the word 'awesome' it's liable to set Ellie off even worse."_

 **Team Intersect SUV #2**

 **Outside the home of Kathleen McHugh**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1605 hours**

"Shit, looks like we've got trouble." Casey said as he pulled the SUV to a stop at the side of the street about ten yards from the address provided by General Beckman. There were three cars in the driveway, and standing on the front porch of the home in question was a middle-aged man, dressed in jeans and wearing a light jacket, pounding on the door.

"Do you think it's an infected?" Carina asked, checking her side arm before putting it back in its concealed holster.

"I don't know." Casey said. "It could be. Or it could be something else. Let's take a closer look." The two agents got out of the SUV and closed the door. Now that they were outside, they could hear what the man pounding on the door was saying.

"Open up you bitch!" he shouted. "It's time you paid for what you did to me!" The man then stopped shouting, his ability to talk interrupted by a massive coughing fit. After a few moments, he continued. "I'm going to kill you and that little bitch of a daughter of yours. That'll teach you to divorce me!" Casey and Carina exchanged looks, then as one drew their weapons and rushed towards the house. They had covered half the distance when the man kicked the door in and went inside. A moment later they heard a scream.

 **Home of Kathleen McHugh**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1605 hours**

 _"Come on, hurry up."_ Kathleen McHugh thought to herself, trying to will the police to get there already. Her ex-husband, Dennis, had shown up twenty minutes earlier, clearly suffering from a bad cold, and angry. More angry then she had ever seen him, angrier even then when they had divorced four years ago. Even then he had never threatened violence.

"Mom, what do we do?" Alex McHugh, her daughter asked. Kathleen looked at her daughter, and winced at the fear in her eyes.

"Get in the master bathroom. We can lock the door to the bedroom and then-" she started but was interrupted when the door was kicked in.

 **Outside Home of Kathleen McHugh**

 **Los Angeles, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1610 hours**

Casey's eyes widened when he heard the man's voice drift from inside the home, and the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting a face and the thump of a body hitting the floor.

"Let's move!" Casey shouted, taking off running.

"Casey, wait!" Carina yelled, taking after him. Within seconds both partners were on the porch. Stopping at the door, they took up positions for a tactical entry, weapons at the ready. Carina nodded at Casey. He returned the nod and went through the door.

"Federal agents! Freeze!" he shouted once he got through door. "Get away from them before I blow your fucking head off!" The man whirled around to look at him and Casey gave an involuntary flinch. From the car, neither he nor Carina had been able to get a good look at the man's features. Up close, the man looked like something out of horror movie. He had sores all over his face, and blood leaking out of his nose.

"Shit Casey, he's infected." Carina said, glad they had taken the time to don their protective surgical masks.

"I'm not going to tell you again. Move away from them." Casey said, an edge in his voice.

"Fuck you cop!" the man shouted. "I'm going to kick your ass then finish her off!" He lunged at Casey. Casey didn't hesitate; two shots rang out, killing the attacker.

"Thank God you got here when you did." Alex said, breathlessly.

"Are you both ok?" Carina asked. Alex and Kathleen nodded, though Kathleen was not looking at her. She was staring at Casey.

"Alex?" she said in disbelief and recognition. Then she shook her head. "No. No. It can't be. They told me you were dead!"

"Hi Kathleen." Casey said seriously. "Listen, I know this is a bit of a shock. And I promise I'll explain everything, but we need to get out of here first."

 **Team Intersect SUV #2**

 **Enroute out of Los Angeles**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1645 hours**

"So let me get this straight." Alex said, looking between Casey and her mom. "You used to be engaged to him. And you thought he was killed. But he really was recruited into a clandestine unit, one that required him to sever all ties to his life and assume a new identity. You were pregnant at the time, but he didn't know that. I'm his daughter."

"Yes honey." Kathleen said.

"Why?" Alex asked, looking at Casey. Casey sighed.

"Look Alex, I know that this isn't going to make a lot of sense to you. Or to you Kathleen." Casey said, nodding at his ex-fiancée. "But at the time, I believed that what I was being asked to do was worth it. And necessary. Looking back I now know that while the job itself was indeed worth it and helped me make a difference, it wasn't necessary to fake my own death. I was played. And I know it won't make up for the hurt I put you through, but I am sorry. But none of that matters now. When I found out you were living in Los Angeles, and that I had a daughter – which was this morning by the way – I knew I had to get you out before things went completely side-ways."

"What do you mean, completely side-ways?" Kathleen asked.

"You've obviously heard about this flu that's been circling the globe? The Kaana flu?" Casey asked. Kathleen and Alex nodded. "I can't go into all the details right now, I promise I will when we get to where we're going, but long story short is that it's much worse than is being reported. The President is just hours away from ordering a full lock-down on the country; martial law. And it's not just hear. Things are bad all over the globe. The team I've been working on has been ordered to transfer to a government bunker."

"So you're taking us with you to the bunker?" Alex asked, then looked at Carina. "And she's one of your team members? Or is she something more?" Casey and Carian exchanged looks and began laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, we're not laughing at you, Alex." Carina said finally getting her laughter under control. "We were laughing at the implication you just made of us being a couple."

"So that's a no?" Kathleen asked.

"That's a no." Casey said. "Red here is involved with the two other members of the team, Chuck and Sarah. Though I suppose to be honest, while we aren't together, we aren't just team members either. See, Carina, Chuck, and Sarah are beyond just team members to me. They're family. I've never had the privilege of working with more dedicated and talented partners then I have with them. Which is why we're NOT going to the bunker."

"John," Kathleen said, using the name he had told her to use, "what do you mean?"

 **Team Intersect SUV #2**

 **Heading North on US 101**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1730 hours**

"Shit." Carina said as she hung up the secure burner phone. News of the incident at the Westside Medical Center had come over the radio a few minutes earlier, including the fact that two doctors had appeared to have been kidnapped by two armed individuals. Casey had immediately ordered Carina to contact Chuck and Sarah, his intuition telling him that they were involved somehow. "You were right."

"What happened?" Casey asked.

"Apparently Devon and Ellie were called in to help since the hospital was overloaded with patients. Apparently a couple dozen who were under quarantine all entered the violence stage at the same time and overpowered the security guards watching them. They got into the Emergency Room. It was a slaughter." Carina replied. "Chuck and Sarah had just gotten there to grab Ellie and Devon. They had to fight their way through the ER to get to them."

"This is not good." Casey said. "West Side is on the CIA/NSA watch list because of its association with Chuck's family. If they haven't been alerted yet, they will be shortly. Our window for getting out of dodge just got a lot smaller."

In the back seat, Kathleen listened to the two partners speak, still not quite believing everything that had occurred and that she had been told over the last hour. More accurately, she didn't want to believe it all. It was terrifying enough when the Kaana flu was just a bad strain of the flu that was making the rounds. And when Dennis had shown up angry at her doorstep. At the time she thought he had been drunk. But to find out that the Kaana flu was a biological weapon, and that her ex-husband's behavior was most likely because he had been afflicted with it, and that the disease has spread much more and with much more severity than the news was telling people was a lot worse. Finding out that the weapon had been unleashed by a terrorist organization bent on taking over the US government, and that had already infiltrated parts of the government was terrifying. But what was most disconcerting was the fact that her ex-fiancée was willing to commit what amounted to treason with his team, ignoring orders to head to a bunker in order to save one of their own team from probably capture.

 _"And then let's not forget the fact that my ex-fiancee is alive when I though he was dead. Not to mention the mess of having to explain to my daughter the fact that her dad is still alive."_ Kathleen thought, a headache already beginning to form. One thing was clear, for John to do something like this, he must really think a lot of this Chuck. As much as she was hurt by the fact that John had faked his death, part of her understood it. It was one of the things that she fell in love with when they met all those years ago – his devotion to duty. For him to even consider turning his back on his duty said volumes, both about his partners and the situation they were now in.

 **NSA Headquarters**

 **Fort Meade, MD**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1730 hours**

"General, we have a situation." Major Derek Mitchell said, walking into General Beckman's office. General Beckman looked up from her desk where she had been going over the plans for the NSA's move to their assigned bunker site in Idaho.

"What is it Major." She asked.

"Ma'am, we've just received word of an incident at West Side Medical Center in Los Angeles." He replied, then went on to explain the report. Beckman paled slightly as he relayed the information.

 _"Dammit!"_ she thought to herself. _"I just needed to hold off sending the extraction team for a few more hours to ensure the team got clear with no issues. But there's no way I can do that now."_ The CIA had undoubtedly received the report as well, and very shortly the information would be on its way to the National Security Advisor and the President.

"Who's on deck?' she asked.

"Captain Noble's team, ma'am." The Major replied. Inwardly, Beckman grinned. Captain Noble and his team were good, but unimaginative. They would follow procedure to the letter, which would help give Team Intersect some additional time.

"Get them moving." Beckman said. "Extraction plan theta." The Major saluted and turned, rushing out of the office.

 **BuyMore**

 **Burbank, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1900 hours**

"God damn Chuck, Anna, and Morgan." Lester Patel swore under his breath. Tonight was supposed to be his night off, but earlier that day Chuck and his hetero-life partner and their girlfriends had walked out of the Buymore and disappeared. Big Mike had been almost apoplectic when he found out, and all attempts to reach Chuck, Morgan and Anna had been unsuccessful. So Lester and his friend Jeff Barnes now had to work a double shift, something they didn't want to do. Of course, in his anger, Lester failed to acknowledge that Chuck would have been working the double shift, as usual, if he had been here and did so regularly. But as usual, Lester was fully concentrating on himself.

"Excuse me?" a voice said from the Nerd Herd counter behind him. He sighed, dreading dealing with another customer. He turned around and almost did a visible double take. Standing in front of him was a couple. As was typical of Lester, his eyes immediately where drawn to the female half of the couple, particularly her ample bosom.

"Well hello." Lester said. "How may I be of service?"

"You can start by tearing your eyes away from my girl's chest." A voice growled. Lester glanced over at the male half and blanched. He was not very tall, but very well built, and was clearly angry. He also seemed to be sweating quite a bit, and looked like he had been suffering from a severe cold, judging by the redness around his eyes, his occasional coughing and runny nose. Because he looked sick, Lester did not immediately stumble to try and apologize and smooth things over like he usually would.

"Look pal," Lester began. "Take an easy; you can't tell me you're not use to guys staring at your girl, she's gorgeous. A real Picasso. If you didn't want me looking, you shouldn't have brought her here." He then turned his attention back to the woman.

"Why you little prick!" the man shouted, reaching across the counter and grabbing Lester by the shirt collar. Color drained form Lester's face.

"Dude calm down! I'm sorry" he began, before a large fist crashed into his face, causing him to fall back behind the counter and crumble to the floor. A moment later the customer had leapt over the counter and began kicking and beating him.

"Hey! Stop leave my friend alone!" Jeff Barnes shouted, rushing over to the Nerd Herd desk. As he approached, he grabbed a ceramic coffee mug off the desk and in an uncharacteristic display of bravery, swung the cup at the head of Lester's assailant. The woman let out a shriek of anger and began attacking Jeff. Around them, other customers watched with horror and morbid fascination as the couple continued to pummel both Nerd Herders. Then, as if a damn broke, the twenty or so customers screamed almost in unison and began running towards the exit in a panic, colliding with each other. Tempers flared and soon a number were engaged in physical altercations as panic took over and the entire store devolved into a melee of violence.

 **NSA Extraction Team**

 **Enroute to Buymore**

 **Burbank, CA**

 **November 26, 2008**

 **1900 hours**

"Captain, I'm getting something over the local PD channels." Lieutenant Victoria Dunwoody said as the two of the six SUVs used by the extraction team raced towards the Buymore. The team had landed a half hour earlier and immediately divided into three groups. The first was sent to West Side Medical Center to investigate what had gone on there. Based on the news reports, it was possible to that the extraction target had been there. The second group had gone to the target's home. The third group, which Captain Noble led personally, was heading for Castle, the base the target operated out of and which they had been unable to contact for the last hour and a half.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" he asked.

"LAPD is responding to multiple 911 calls at the target location. Reports are of a riot in progress in the store. From the few details that have come over, I think their might be infected there, sir."

"Just wonderful." Noble said. This extraction was going to difficult enough without the added complications of an active outbreak and police response on site. He keyed his radio. "Ok team, looks like this is going to be a hot zone extraction. Everyone get your masks on before we exit the vehicles."

 _Los Angeles, CA – The City of Angels experienced dual catastrophes today, heralding the arrival in force of the Kaana flu to the city. The first incident occurred at the West Side Medical Center, where infected patients under quarantine went on a killing rampage throughout the hospital, overwhelming police and security personal stationed at the hospital. Sources within the LAPD report that at least three dozen hospital employees and patients were killed before order was restored by LAPD SWAT, and that another four dozen people may have been infected. Most disturbing is the fact that several hospital personnel and patients who were known to be present are now missing, raising fears that some of them are infected and may be spreading the infection. Unconfirmed reports also point to another mystery – two individuals identifying themselves as Federal law enforcement personnel apparently entered the hospital just before the incident, and were seen killing several of the rampaging infected before forcibly removing two doctors from the hospital. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one source within the LAPD has told this reported that the Federal government has stated that no Federal agents were dispatched to the hospital at that time, leading them to believe that the pair were imposters and raising the possibility of a kidnapping situation._

 _The second incident occurred a few miles away from West Side, when a riot broke out at the Burbank location of Buymore, one of the nation's largest big-box electronics retail chains. Authorities are not commenting on the cause of the riot, but inside sources once again tell this reporter that it started when an infected customer began attacking members of Buymore's Nerd Herd. LAPD responded swiftly to the scene but not before at least nine people were killed and dozens more injured._


End file.
